Public universities fees to triple, education task force recommends
A taskforce set up by President William Ruto on education reforms has recommended a sharp increase of fees paid by government sponsored students.
In the second interim report presented to the president last week, the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms made a raft of recommendations aimed at improving the quality of higher education in the country.
The report mainly focuses on higher education and the reforms needed to make it better and affordable. The working party proposes a hike in the fees paid by government-sponsored students from the current Sh16,000 to Sh52,000 per semester.
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It also wants the government to increase its funding to public universities, which currently fall below the institutions’ needs.
The report further recommends that the government writes off the Sh56.13 billion owed by public universities to statutory bodies, including deductions for PAYE, pension, NHIF, NSSF amongst others.
In addition, the team proposes ways of improving governance in universities, including ensuring that chancellor positions in 28 universities are filled.
The task force also wants the government to work on increasing the enrolment of students in teachers’ training colleges which currently stands at 14.7 per cent, or 3,922 students in 34 institutions.
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It further wants the government to expand the space for Technical and Vocational Training by establishing such institutes across the country, with a National Polytechnic in every county, Technical Vocational College in every constituency and a Vocational Training Centre in each ward.
Universities have been battling with inadequate funds due to various issues including the reduction of money disbursed by the National Treasury, surging enrolment following the lowering of university entry grade to C+, and a low number of parallel students.
The situation is likely to worsen with more than 173,000 students who scored C+ and above during the 2022 KCSE examination expected to join various institutions this year.
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