Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) beneficiaries will have to put up with tough repayment condition after attempts to review the law backfired.
A report by Daily Nation on Saturday, August 28, indicated that the beneficiaries will continue to repay the education loans at 4 per cent interest and will only have a window of one year before they begin repayment.
A proposal sponsored by Nominated MP Gideon Keter sought to extend the repayment period from one to five years while reducing interest rate from 4 per cent to 3 per cent.
In his proposal, Keter was also seeking to have interest on the principal amount given to the youth as well as people with disabilities waived until they secure employment.
The lawmaker explained that his proposal sought to have financial burden for the youth lifted until they get jobs.
However, the National Assembly Committee on Education, chaired by Busia Woman Representative, dismissed the proposal, arguing that if implemented, the board would face challenges in financing higher education.
The team also noted that reviewing it downwards would undermine the board's existence and financial muscle.
"In the event that the interest rate is varied downwards, HELB's financial capacity to fund students will be grossly affected.
"This, therefore, requires the National Treasury to provide more budgetary allocations to HELB," stated a report from the committee.
This comes against the backdrop of a 2014 study, which found out that a Kenyan graduate can spend an average of five years after leaving the University before landing their first job.
The situation hasn't been made better by Covid-19 pandemic, which saw a total of 5 million people lose their source of income as of December 2020 after several companies closed shop.
A census report by Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) indicated that 39% of the youth country wide is unemployed representing 5,341,182 or 38.9 percent of the 13,777,600 young Kenyans.
