MPs push for merging university kitties to provide free education

A group of Egerton students who deferred last year's September-December semester after they failed to raise school fees. [Courtesy]

Reforms in university education began in earnest yesterday with Parliament calling for consolidation of bursaries and funds to make tertiary free.

And to remedy the injustice meted out to needy students through the newly introduced University Funding Model, MPs agitated for the merging of all education kitties including the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) fund, the Universities Fund and bursaries dispensed by governors, MPs, MCAs and even woman representatives.

This came even as Higher Education Principal Secretary Beatrice Inyangala admitted inefficiencies in the Means Testing Instrument (MTI) - the method used by the Ministry of Education to determine the amount of funding needy students should get.

During a Parliamentary Kamukunji yesterday, National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang'ula challenged the Ministry of Education to create a policy to amalgamate all the kitties and address the perennial university funding challenge.

"...the issue raised by the member for Changamwe (Omar Mwinyi) is the elephant in the room. All these resources come from the same source, the diminishing public purse. MCAs, Women reps, MPs, governors and even the ministry are giving bursaries. If you are able, its you to generate policy and this house will be more than happy to turn it into law so we can amalgamate and consolidate these funds," said Wetang'ula.

He told PS Inyangala who appeared before the Kamukunji alongside a battery of vice-chancellors and officials from HELB and the Universities Fund to answer queries on the university funding crisis.

The speaker supported Mwinyi's proposal who had sought a long-term solution. "Why doesn't university funding become free so we can stop judging who is poor and who is not? Why can't we also have one system for funding as opposed to two?" Mwinyi wondered.

Laikipia University Vice Chancellor Joseph Rotich affirmed to the MPs that with the amalgamation of funds, the money would be enough to sustain higher education. "The matter on whether university education should be free, I report that this will be a policy issue which this Parliament and government needs to decide and make a decision on. With all the monies from CDF, women reps and all the others that go to students, they can be consolidated then university, college ad even TVETS can be made free," said Rotich.

The legislators further poked holes into the MTI, which takes into consideration issues such as gender, family income and previous school to determine one's funding allocation, terming it inefficient and unsustainable.

"The biggest issue with MTI is its social parameters for financial issues. We need to use financial tools for this matter because we are opening the system to corruption and fraud," said Suba South MP Caroli Omondi.

Rangwe MP Lilian Gogo sought to know why the ministry is introducing a funding model introduced in 1975 and how they expected it to address modern-day problems. "What we need is free university education. This will ensure we do not overburden students with repaying loans upon graduation," said Gogo.

Suba North MP Millie Odhiambo faulted the system for using previous schools attended as a measuring instrument. "This issue of which school the student attended in high school should be relooked given that some went to good schools but were funded by CDF," she said.

South Mugirango MP Sylvanous Osoro said: "I do not understand how the fact that I am male or female determines whether I am richer or poorer."

To which PS Inyangala replied, "According to research, we found that female-led households are more needy compared to male-headed households."