The presidential working party on education has tabled its daunting recommendation on fees for universities across the country.
The taskforce has recommended university fee increments from the current Ksh.16,000 to Ksh.52,000.
This could lock out thousands of Kenyans who seek to pursue their education dreams in an economy that is overburdened by the increasing number of unemployed graduates.
The taskforce is asking the government to increase its funding of education at the university level, which currently falls below the institutions’ needs.
The report was presented to President William Ruto at the State House, Nairobi, last week.
The report also has a number of proposed reforms, among them easing the financial burden on universities by writing off debts owed by universities to statutory bodies.
The debt currently stands at Ksh.56.13 billion, including deductions for Pay As You Earn (PAYE), pension, NHIF, NSSF amongst others, with the taskforce recommending that the state foregoes the debt.
In public universities, there is a shortfall of about Ksh.164 billion, cumulatively from 2018/2019 to the 2022/2023 academic year.
Private universities are better off with a funding deficit of Ksh.56.96 billion over the same period.
