President William Ruto on Sunday explained why the Kenya Kwanza government retired the old higher education funding model and reverted to the new one which has attracted criticism from Kenyans across the board.
Speaking during a townhall meeting held at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) to address this matter in particular, Ruto strongly defended the new funding model saying that it was arrived at to address inequality in the Kenyan society.
“The old funding model was almost destroying our education because it assumed that all the courses were the same,” he explained.
President Ruto, while driving his point home claimed that when he assumed office, 23 out of 40 universities were bankrupt, which he attributed to the old funding model's inadequacies.
“It also assumed that the government had the money to pay 80 per cent for everybody, when it did not and the results were disastrous,” he added.
The President further gave an example of Scot Theological College which closed down because of lack of funding.
President Ruto then challenged Vice Chancellors from various institutions present at the meeting to explain to students why the government found it necessary to change the model since they were already aware of the strengths and weaknesses of both systems.
“If the old model was working tell these students the old model was working and let's go back to the old model,” he stated while directing his comments to the VCs.
Embu University’s VC, Prof Daniel Mugendi Njiru who is the Chair of the University’s Forum said that the old model had pushed most universities on the brink of bankruptcy.
“The old model was killing our universities. As of June 17, 2023, 23 out of 40 universities were technically insolvent. The round of this model that we started last year has been able to get many of those universities out of pit,” he explained adding that because with the old model, universities could not pay their staff on time due to arrears.
The President lauded the new model as an improvement that still retains good elements of household contribution and loans. "The only difference we are making is that we are looking at how do we assist children from vulnerable families," the Head of State emphasized.
