By Natasha Korir
President William Ruto has affirmed his commitment to ensuring that quality, affordable education is accessible to all Kenyans.
The president noted that inclusivity is at the core of the Bottom-Up Economic Transformative Agenda (BETA) and therefore underprivileged students need to access affordable education.
He pointed out that the vulnerable population has constantly lacked access to affordable education.
“We can not afford to have a conversation about education that shuts down the children of the poor. It is as blunt as that,” explained Ruto.He said that only 10% of students from underprivileged families make it to universities.
The president was speaking during the New Higher Education Student Funding Model – Special Edition Presidential Town Hall meeting in Nairobi.
He pointed out that shortage of funds has been the biggest problem in higher education institutions.
President Ruto said that more than 20% of the government’s budget is allocated to education.
He added that the government has increased funding for education from Ksh 45 billion to Ksh 82 billion to facilitate scholarships and student loans.
“We can not compromise on the quality of our education. If the right measures are not put in place, then we will be a very reckless and irresponsible country,” emphasised President Ruto.He said that the New Model will ensure that universities are well equipped to provide quality education in various courses.
President Ruto reiterated that, “In order to destroy a nation, all one has to do is lower the quality of education.”
Therefore, he said, the recent employment of 56,000 new teachers will help improve the output in the education sector.
President Ruto also highlighted that Kenya has immense human capital which should be well equipped with transformative skills.
This, he said, will be achieved by enhancing funding in Technical Vocational Education and Training Colleges (TVET) across the country to ensure that more Kenyans enroll for competency-based programs.
Meanwhile, he addressed the importance of student loans and said that it is a vital part of the education system.
However, he said that, “You can’t ask a jobless person to pay a student loan and therefore until one is able to pay off their student loan no one should follow them.”