Crisis looms in universities as students threaten strike over Gov't delay in disbursing funds

Learning activities in institutions of higher learning may grind to a halt from Tuesday next week if students make good their threat to stage countrywide demonstrations to push for the release of funds from the government.

A section of student leaders drawn from various universities and TVETs have decried what they term as the untold suffering of thousands of vulnerable first-year students who are yet to receive scholarships and loans under the new funding model two months after they reported to school.

The student leaders have also claimed that they were not involved in the review of the new University Funding Model.

Raphael Leboo, a student at Kisii University, joined the institution almost a month ago but has had a rocky start to his first year of study due to the delayed disbursement of loans and scholarships under the new funding model.

A single room that barely has any furniture is where Raphael and two of his mates have been putting up as they struggle to share rent and food.

Raphael and Sylvanus, like most learners who have pegged the lifeline of their education on government capitation, come from vulnerable families, being forced to skip meals and do everything possible to survive they say has greatly impacted their academic life with their dreams of a better tomorrow on the verge of being wiped out.

The dire situation prompted student leaders, who attended a stakeholders forum in Nairobi, to threaten to stage countrywide protests to call for immediate action by the government.

The students are also lamenting that the review of the new higher education funding model will have far-reaching effects on thousands of learners.

But speaking during the 47th graduation ceremony at Egerton University in Njoro, Nakuru County, Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu put a case for the university funding model.

The CS also revealed that a total of 119,000 students have been admitted in the universities without funds out of the 140,000 students who were placed in universities in the 2023/2024 academic year.

Machogu also insisted on urgent ways of addressing the ballooning debt burden in public universities.

Tension has been building up in most public universities and TVETs due to the government’s failure to disburse the funds. 

The management of most of the institutions says the move to admit students without the financial backing they had expected has left them struggling to maintain their operations.