Education cabinet secretary Ezekiel Machogu has assured Kenyans that no first-year government sponsored student will be turned away over lack of school fees when universities open.
Machogu, who was responding to concerns over the new university funding model proposed by the government, said that his ministry had put all the necessary measures in place to ensure that all students are admitted to their respective universities.
Speaking during a meeting with the National Assembly’s departmental committee on education, the CS argued that all qualifying students will be admitted.
“All new students will be admitted to universities, regardless of whether they have fees or not. The admission will be fairly flexible as we work on processing their application for funds. We don’t want to lock out anyone,” said Machogu.
The CS also spoke in the wake of reports that more than a half of students who have qualified to join university were yet to apply for government funding and bursaries ahead of the application deadline last week.
Similarly, critics of the new university funding model have argued that the new system proposed by the government risks locking out many university qualifying students.
During the meeting with MPs, members of the committee also raised concerns over the new funding model, with some members of the committee expressing concerns that a number of students risk being turned away for lack of school fees.
“Universities are admitting first year learners next week. Members of this Committee and our other colleagues want to be guaranteed that no learner will be locked out of the university for lack of fees,” said committee chairman Malulu Injendi.
Members of the committee also raised concerns regarding the education loan application process highlighting challenges that prospective students face while navigating the intricate
application system.
Further, they noted that there is a lack of comprehensive information to guide applicants through the procedure.
But CS Machogu expressed optimism with the process, insisting that all university qualifying students will benefit from the new system.
“We are committed to reviewing all funding applications received after the September 7th deadline. Remedial actions will be taken if only a few students manage to apply within that time frame,” Machogu said.
“Depending on the volume of applications received, we are open to extending the deadline. Our goal is to accommodate as many students as possible,” he added.
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