A proposed new funding framework could bring together billions of shillings currently channelled through different education financing programmes to create a single fund for tertiary education, Members of Parliament have said.
Speaking during a public hearing at Kisumu National Polytechnic on Wednesday, Lugari MP Nabii Nabwera said the proposed education funding authority would consolidate resources currently used by the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB), university funding programmes and scholarships run by different government institutions.
Nabwera said the proposed fund would cover students in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions, Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC), diploma colleges, teachers’ training colleges and universities.
“The issue about funding education is the essence why we have come to the public. We are creating a fund. Like we have a fund for housing, we have a fund for other activities. Now, this fund is supposed to coalesce all the money that is going to go into tertiary,” Nabwera said.
He said the resources would include money currently channelled through HELB, the university funding board and scholarships administered by different institutions and government agencies.
He cited the Jomo Kenyatta Foundation as one of the institutions that has been running scholarship programmes, saying such resources could form part of the seed money for the proposed funding framework.
“One, from the money we have been using for HELB. Two, from the money we have been using at the university funding board. Three, and then the money of scholarships in various sectors, including CDF and the ministry. You know Jomo Kenyatta Foundation, for example, has been running billions of shillings for scholarship. All that money is going to form seed money,” he said.
Nabwera said the proposed authority would also have the power to mobilise additional resources to finance education, including advising the government on alternative ways of raising money.
He said the authority could potentially recommend education bonds or other financing mechanisms to raise additional funds for the sector.
“If you read the objectives of the new funding authority, they have been given power to raise funds. So they will even advise the government. They will look at it. Maybe they may come up and say we need, like the way we raise a bond, an education bond of 100 million, 200 million. They will raise enough money to fund education,” he said.
The MP said the proposed approach was informed by financing models in other countries, citing Germany, Sweden and China as examples where governments provide significant support towards higher education.
His remarks came as the National Assembly Departmental Committee on Education collected views from teachers, parents, education officials and other stakeholders on six education Bills before Parliament.
Committee chairman and Kibra MP Peter Orero said the public participation exercise was aimed at allowing Kenyans to give their views before the proposed changes are considered further.
Orero said the committee was visiting about 30 counties as part of the exercise and had already held hearings in several areas before arriving in Kisumu.
“We are looking at six Bills which are before the House. One of them is the Basic Education Amendment Bill. We have the Placement Bill for tertiary institutions. We also have the KICD Amendment Bill and the In-Service Training Bill. So these Bills, we are seeking the public opinion,” he said.
Orero said one of the proposals under consideration would make university education free for Kenyan students, with learners required to sign a form rather than have their parents pay fees at tertiary institutions and universities.
“You know how it is now. But now, this Bill proposes that any Kenyan child going to the university will have free education. The only thing they will need to do is to go and sign a form, and that will be all. The parents will not pay any fees at the tertiary institution or at the university level,” he said.
The proposed changes to higher education funding come at a time when Parliament has also been considering gaps in the existing funding framework. Parliamentary records show that lawmakers have previously raised concerns over the exclusion of some teacher training college students from the higher education funding model.
