New Funding Model To End ‘Mama Osha’ Jobs In Universities
In order to pay for their tuition and living expenses while attending a public university, some students have to balance their studies with other responsibilities such as cleaning their rooms and doing their laundry.
Under the new funding model, however, which will see students who are categorised as vulnerable, highly needy, needy, and less needy obtain financial support from the government, this is something that is supposed to become a thing of the past.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB), Charles Ringera, has stated that funding has been decreasing over the years due to a rise in the number of students enrolling in higher education institutions.
For example, only 24 percent of the people who applied for loans the previous year were actually approved for them; this highlights the critical need for immediate action.
“Because the component of upkeep for the students is very low, we had to get an intervention of how to increase that to an average of kSh41000 – Ksh42000 and see whether the students can stop this ‘Mama Osha’ business, some of them even go crime,” said Ringera. “We had to get an intervention of how to increase that to an average of kSh41000 – Ksh42000 and see whether the students can stop this”
Ringera emphasised the significance of the new student-centered approach by stating that it is necessary since it will protect students from the difficulties that they face for the purpose of upkeep.
Also Read: Parents to Pay Reduced Fees In New Funding Model – University Vice-Chancellors .
Universities Fund (UF) Chief Executive Officer Geoffrey Monari also emphasises that the student will be at the centre of the funding model, in contrast to the previous model in which money were distributed to a university. Monari says this is a significant shift from the previous paradigm, in which funds were allocated to an institution.
In addition, Monari gave the assurance that every student will be eligible for both a scholarship and a loan from the Ksh19.6 billion that will be allocated for the fund and the sum of 34.1 billion that will be allocated for continuing students under the Differentiated cost unit (DUC) in the budget for the 2023/24 school year.
The head of UF just has the opinion that the model is relevant at the present time and need to be utilised for more efficient operations and planning.
“Many students survive in university with one meal a day, many of them are malnourished because they take the ndazi called ngumuu and tea, when diseases come chances are very high you will be hit by a disease,” said Monari. “Many students survive in university with one meal a day.”
The new model provides a tuition scholarship of 82 percent, a loan of 18 percent, and an upkeep of 60,000 Kenyan shillings for a vulnerable student, while providing a tuition scholarship of 32 percent, a loan of 58 percent, and an upkeep of 45,000 Kenyan shillings for a less needy student. This represents an increase of 10,000 Kenyan shillings over the previous funding model.
