The World Bank has added its voice to the push for an overhaul of Kenya’s higher education. In a report titled ‘Improving Higher Education Performance in Kenya,’ the global lender notes that a young Kenyan from the richest income group is 49 times likely to access higher education than one from the lowest.
“This is because poor students tend to progress less well through primary and secondary education than those coming from the richest income groups, with the highest cultural capital, and they are less well prepared academically when they take the KCSE,” explained the report.
This is unfortunate. Everyone, irrespective of their station in life, has a right to education - from primary to tertiary. We understand that tertiary education can be costly. Studying Medicine through college needs a lot of resources than studying Biology, for example, in Secondary School. And so is the case with many other disciplines in universities.
That is why we welcome the World Bank’s drastic recommendation that the parallel fee system in universities be abolished. Of course, we take cognizant of the fact that the system has helped a lot of people get college education.
Unfortunately, this system has locked out thousands of poor students from higher education and denied them an opportunity to move up the social and economic ladder. The global lender wants the country to shift to a new Targeted Free Tuition (TFT) scheme, where poor students who qualify for university education - those who score C+ and above in their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations - have their tuition fees paid by the government, while those from well-off backgrounds only receive loans.
Until recently, only a few students who scored highly in their final exams in secondary school - at least a grade of B and above - were able to get a place in public universities, with the government footing all their tuition fees. However, currently, all students who score at least C+ get their tuition fees paid by the government.