Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba on Saturday, March 29, revealed that first and second-year students will soon be able to file their appeals on the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) portal.
Speaking at a thanksgiving ceremony at Nyabururu National School, Ogamba stated that this move was despite the court cases currently impeding the implementation of the university funding model.
"I wish to announce that Higher Education Loans Board and the University Fund will immediately open their portal to allow first and second year students willing to make appeals for loans and scholarships under the students' centre model to do so," Ogamba stated.
This comes almost two months after the Ministry of Education disbursed the Ksh3.2 billion to cater for the needs of first-year and second-year university students of the 2024/2025 academic year.
The announcement on February 5 came just a day after university students countrywide held demonstrations calling for the reinstatement of HELB due to the discriminatory nature of the new university funding model.
The latest announcement by CS Ogamba will allow any of those students who applied for the loans during this time to lay bare any grievances they had about the process, including contesting the amount of loans issued to them.
In his address, Ogamba insisted that the ministry would keep implementing the new funding model until the case, currently in the Court of Appeal, is heard and determined.
He further weighed in on the debate on whether mathematics should be an optional subject in senior secondary schools, stating that the ministry was considering all stakeholder opinions on the matter.
"On such feedback like the debate that is going on on the maths, we are listening to it, looking at it and analysing it to see that we make the right decision in the sector," he relayed.
The revelation that the once compulsory subject in basic education would soon be optional has elicited reactions from parents, teachers, education experts and other professionals calling for a cessation on the same.
In the Competency-Based Curriculum, senior secondary school students beginning at grade 10 will need to choose a pathway to pursue in preparation for their future careers, meaning that some of them will miss out on certain subjects, including maths.
Only students who choose the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) pathway will have maths as one of their subjects. Social Sciences and Arts and Sports are the other two pathways available. Each student will have a choice of pursuing two pathways.
