The National Assembly is now demanding that all students that qualified for university education be placed in public institutions of higher learning.
The Public Investment Committee on Governance and Education says the move will save the country in excess of Ksh.20 billion that will instead be directed to public universities.
Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu was pressured by committee members to confirm that the government will shift policy and make sure all public students are placed in universities.
“We know that our public universities have the capacity to take all the students that qualified for university, and therefore there is no rationale to continue using public money for paying for students in private university,” said committee Chair Jack Wamboka.
This is a position that was adopted by all members of the committee who wondered why the government was financing students in private universities while neglecting those in public universities.
The last financial year the government paid Ksh.13.7 billion to public universities as capitation to students in private universities and Ksh.6.7 billion as grants.
“We are speaking the same language, we have said that the government is going to place all students into public universities unless a parent has requested otherwise, that we have said and that is now our policy,” CS Machogu said amid cheers from members of the committee.
The commitment from the Education CS came after the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) had also committed to give priority to public universities in placement of those that had qualified for university education.
This development was celebrated by the committee, with the Chair saying the commitment will now be communicated to the House, further warning that action will be taken against any officer who will not adhere to it.
“We have put the last nail on the coffin, that moving forward from this year’s intake, KUCCUPS is not going to place any public student in private university unless they have requested to do so and for which they should pay, we are going to make the recommendations to Parliament,” he said.
The commitment comes even as it was revealed that public universities have a pending bill worth a little over Ksh.60 billion with many projects stalling.
