HELB CEO Charles Ringera, on Wednesday, announced that thousands of university students would be disqualified from accessing the HELB fund that facilitates government funding to students pursuing higher education.
Students that will not qualify for the fund are the ones pursuing courses that are unapproved by the Commission for University Education (CUE).
The news follows revelations that 133 courses, which are taught in Kenyan universities without the approval of the regulator in the education sector.
Ringera has indicated that the courses are invalid as they are yet to be certified and that the government will not pay for persons to pursue them.
Ringera noted that only the courses that have been approved by the commission are eligible for funding from the government.
"We can neither fund unaccredited courses nor universities that are not chartered by CUE. The government cannot place students to courses that are not accredited nor universities that are not charted and we rely on the number of students placed to fund their education. They are pretty much tied," Ringera stated.
According to the official, the board relies on the institutions of higher learning Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) data to facilitate funding for the loan applicants.
The placement of the students to the university under government sponsorship is usually done by KUCCPS.
The regulations of CUE provide that senates of universities are responsible for setting up new courses in universities but need an audit by the commission for the programme to be recognized.
The commission is also the government agency that is responsible for awarding the universities charters. As of February 2019, 14 universities are yet to receive charters and only operate on provisional status.
The Ministry of Education on Wednesday also announced that it will engage the help of law enforcement officers to seek HELB defaulters and make them pay,
