CS Ezekiel Machogu, ensures university admission remains open to all despite fees shortage. As Education Secretary, he reassures to parents and students planning to enrolling to public university next month, that no individual will be denied admission due to lack of fees.
Machogu spoke to the National Assembly Committee on Education on Thursday. He said that although only 30% of the group has applied for government scholarship, the other remaining 70% should not be worried because, they will also get a chance to enroll.
He share that he will send a circular to Vice Chancellors to make sure no student is close out.
Meanwhile, many optimistic university students were still in line at the HELB offices in Anniversary Towers, hoping for an opportunity to apply for government financing. They were all dependent on a slow system for their applications.
“Treasury is giving us funds for 2nd, 3rd and 4th years. Which will be disbursed to universities as we are concluding the process of categorization for the 1st years. We have made it clear to our public and private universities not to turn away students while we are doing the process of the funding,” CS Machogu said.
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Machogu talked about worries from Mps about how scholarships and loans are being given out. The process is not finished and might make students miss their chances.
“We discussed the matter with the Vice Chancellors and they agreed to our proposal but I will write a circular,” he stated.
Higher Education Principal Secretary Beatrice Inyangala added,” The students are already visiting the facility and are being assisted and we will ensure this happens until they settle down and get on with their studies.”
Education officials mentioned that 70% of the students still haven’t applied for the government funding. The lawmakers are asking the ministry to extend the deadline from September 7th so that no student is left out. The government is also considering extending time.
“We have built capacity at the Huduma Center so that they can apply from there, we are working with the interior ministry to fast track the process.” HELB CEO Charles Ringera said.
Cs Machogu noted, “we will not like to lock out any person, and if you have an application you can just report in university and be guided on how to apply, we will be quite flexible because as you can see the number are still low.”
Until Thursday,75,272 out of 285,000 students in universities and TVETS had applied successfully. People are asking what will happen to those who are not yet 18 years old.
Nyando MP Jared Okello stated: “You are criminalizing finishing Form Four at 16, we are opening doors for crooks who will offer to help.”
CS Machogu responded: ” We have been able to analyze this because we have had some sort of problem. The system has some kind of jam such that we apply and the system is not able to absorb. The validation process has also has challenges.”
Even with the reassurance, students at the HELB offices in Anniversary Towers appeared sad and frustrated as they stood in line seeking help before the September 7th deadline.
Some of the students are familiar with these difficulties- last year, they had to give up on the loan because of the same system problem.
Most of the students who finished high school last year are concerned about the missing out on funding. This could affect their education plans as their parents cannot afford to pay the entire school fees.
They are asking the government to give more time for HELB applications. All to note that, only the 2022 KCSE candidates will follow the new funding model.
