Earlier yeserday, the National Assembly Committee on Education and Research chaired by Hon. Florence Mutua met with Dr. Julius Jwan Principal Secretary, State Department on Basic Education and Early Childhood Learning, Dr. Sarah Ruto, Chief Administrative Secretary, Amb. Simon Nabukwesi, Principal Secretary State Department on Higher Education and Mr. Charles Ringera, CEO Higher Education Loans Board to responded to Questions by Members of Parliament.
The Committee queried why the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) is yet to release funding for students joining Universities and other institutions of Higher Learning for the 2021/2022 academic year across the country and the the measures the Ministry is taking to ensure that the said money is released to students.
In his submissions , Principal Secretary, State Department on Basic Education and Early Childhood Learning, Dr. Julian Jwan said that HELB had received and processed a total of 13,091loan application requests and awarded Kshs.588M. Out of this, Kshs.247M was released to 10,897 students to cater for upkeep for their first semester.
He further said that in the current financial year, 2021/2022, HELB plans to finance a total of 74,438 first year university students against 128,073 students that were placed by Kenya Universities and Central Placement Services.
This is attributed to the available budget for the financial year 2021/2022. HELB has requested for an additional Kshs.4.9B to cover the deficit.
Members additionally, enquired about the measures the Government has put in place to cushion parents against the effects of COVID-19 Pandemic particularly parents with school-going children who are having to pay school fees four times in a year.
According to documents tabled in the meeting the Ministry recalculated fees charged by public schools as follows:
a) Schools charging Kshs.53, 534/= per year are now required to charge Kshs. 45,000/= for the years 2021 and 2022.
b) Schools charging Kshs. 40,000/= are now required to charge Kshs. 35,000/=.
c) Day schooling is free except payment of lunches as may be agreed by parents.In addition, the Government, through the Ministry of Education, and the Teachers Service Commission, has continuously sensitized the parents and the educational institutions’ managers through official circulars and other forums on strict conformity to the policy requirement that children attend learning without interruptions, while observing the Ministry of Health COVID-19 pandemic measures.
Following concerns by MPs on the recent hike in University fees, the Education Committee sort to establish the rationale for the recent increase in fees and student hostel accommodation cost by the University of Nairobi.
Amb. Simon Nabukwesi, Principal Secretary, State Department on Higher Education in his submissions informed the meeting that in recent years allocations to Universities had not been increased despite the increasing cost.
Therefore, the University deemed it fit to increase the fees and student hostel accommodation to offset their operational costs.
During deliberations the Members present in the meeting noted that the fee increment was done against the advice of the Ministry.
The Committee plans to meet stakeholders in the Education sector to resolve this and other issues affecting learning in the country.
