In the wake of a public uproar over the new university funding model, the University of Nairobi (UoN) student leaders on Saturday announced national demonstrations to protest its implementation.
Speaking to the press on Saturday noon, the UoN student leaders called on fellow students from other universities across the country to join them in their planned protest which is set to kick off on Monday, September 2.
While expressing their frustrations over the new funding model, the students termed the new model as discriminatory claiming it limited Kenyans' access to university education.
According to the UoN student leaders, their efforts to engage the government on the matter have bore no fruit leaving them with no option other than to call for the nationwide demonstrations.
“The public at large is crying because they have been placed in the wrong bands and subjected to pay excessive amounts of fees,” narrated one of the student leaders.
"It is high time that the government listened to urge all students from all universities and mainly from UoN to come out on August 2.”
The latest development follows the Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Migos' directive to students assuring them of the government's efforts to address their concerns.
On August 23, the Ministry of Education disclosed that nearly 10,000 aggrieved students have so far registered appeals through the Higher Education Financing (HEF) portal contesting the new university funding model.
Universities Fund Chief Executive Officer Godfrey Monari revealed that the review process has already begun, with students set to receive the status of their appeals within three weeks of application.
“We have received over 10,000 appeals, and this is an ongoing process. We want to identify where these needy students are so that we can place them in the correct funding band,” Monari stated.
“Once we process the appeals, we will update the universities to review the household fees for the students. We will also provide this information on the HEF portal, accompanied by an SMS alert to inform the students,” he added.
Monari noted that the Ministry was considering utilising the National Government Administration Officers (NGAO) to verify appeal cases to ensure the authenticity and accuracy of the data provided.
