Move to cut wait for entry into varsity is welcome

The announcement by the Higher Education minister William Ruto that the ministry is working on a policy that will see the reduction of waiting time for students before they join university is timely.

For long, the tradition has been that the Joint Admissions Board (JAB) admits school leavers two years after completing secondary school.

This has always led to time wasting by students waiting to join public universities through the JAB while those on private sponsorship continue with their studies.

The two-year wait subjects students to unnecessary delay to access education especially in a country where there is no gainful employment, which the leavers can engage in as they wait to enrol.

The announcement is thus welcome to the stakeholders in the sector and especially students under the Government-sponsored programmes who have been disadvantaged by the arrangement.

End inequity

By the time the Government-sponsored student enters first year, the privately sponsored one whom they completed together is halfway through university studies.

That this discrepancy has pervaded for long in our institutions of higher education begs the answer as to why former ministers have never seen it a priority to rectify the situation.

The announcement should now be followed by action. There must be no delay to address the anomaly as this will help end inequity in accessing higher education.

There have been so many policies, not only in the education sector, which never go beyond the intention. We can only hope that this is not one of those.

The minister should immediately hold consultations with the aim of coming up with the way forward. The implementation will also ensure it clears students’ backlog. The ministry’s plan to introduce a double intake to clear the backlog is laudable.

The plan to also establish an open university within one year to open doors to Kenyans seeking higher education is noble because it will help decongest public universities. However, its implementation should be done in such a way that it does not compromise the quality of education and strain existing infrastructure.