The News
NAIROBI — A new university fees structure in Kenya threatens to reignite youth-led protests against the government after being met with anger from opponents who say poorer students will miss out on higher education.
Student leaders and lawmakers have called for demonstrations if the changes go ahead. Such a move could spark a fresh round of protests: More than 60 people died during demonstrations in recent weeks. Similar unrest could scupper another policy aimed at tackling the country’s deepening economic crisis. Other recent demonstrations forced the government to scrap tax rises.
The new model, called the University Fund, moves more costs to students through higher fees while reducing government funding and scholarships. It is being rolled out ahead of the new academic year. The plan will place students in different categories depending on their family income, the size of their family, and the number of children in school.
The change threatens to deepen anger directed at President William Ruto by youth activists and political rivals. He faced criticism over the new system during a televised town hall meeting on Sunday, with students and opposition lawmakers calling for changes.
“President Ruto should stop killing the education system in this country by making it a preserve of the rich,” said Paul Ongili, a lawmaker from the opposition Orange Democratic Movement party, adding that the new system “discriminates against students from poor families.”
Ongili said an estimated 100,000 students “will not join universities” due to high fees and many others would drop out, although he did not explain how he calculated that figure.
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The new fee structure is the largest shake up of university fees since the end of free university education in 1991, when the government-run Higher Education Loans Board was set up to provide financial support to the poorest students.
In July, at the height of street protests and just a month before the start of the academic year, the Education Ministry recalled admission letters for students due to the uproar over higher fees. The ministry also nullified fees structures that had been issued to the new students.
But since then the government has, through its spokesperson on X, said the new funding model will go ahead and help universities to become self-sufficient.
Under the University Fund, students are eligible for a combination of loans and government support depending on a range of factors including their course, gender, and their course.
Vivianne’s view
The government body responsible for university admissions revealed earlier this year that more than 636,000 students who sat their Kenya Certificate of Secondary School Education in 2023 did not apply for a place at a higher learning institution. It said 47,872 students who qualified for university admission did not choose to study for a degree due to the high cost of degree programs in universities.
The sense that some of Kenya’s brightest and best young people are being held back by a lack of funds has prompted calls for a fresh round of protests.
Kenya’s education sector is at threat of being run down by budget cuts. And the options for the government are bleak: capitulate and lose another battle in the fight against its economic problems, or push through and risk fresh protests. In the longer term, there’s also the danger of poorer students missing out.
Room for Disagreement
Ruto has repeatedly defended the funding model and argues that it does not punish poorer students.
“In this new model we are increasing scholarship and loans for students from vulnerable families from 80% to 95%,” he said at a graduation ceremony on Aug. 19. “We need a funding model that is not focused on the university, but focused on the student.”
The View From An Education Lobbyist
“There was nothing wrong with the previous funding model that the government is rushing to do away with,” said Janet Ouko, director of education lobby group Tunza Mtoto Coalition, adding that there had been a lack of public consultation around the band system.
“This new model will increase the gap in education between the rich and poor, and lock out underprivileged children from accessing higher education,” said Ouko, adding that there was a lack of transparency over the methodology used to put students into different bands.
Notable
Kenya’s teachers are set to become the country’s next big export, we reported earlier this month.