University student leaders yesterday rejected a proposal to increase fees to Sh48,000 and have threatened to call a strike.
The student leaders drawn from public universities have called for enhanced support from the Higher Education Loans Board (Helb).
This as it emerged that the government would require Sh10 billion to support all university students if fees is increased as proposed.
Helb Chief Executive Officer Charles Ringera said any fees increment would mean an additional allocation per student to support their education.
Helb sends directly to universities half of the Sh16,000 fees currently paid by students to cater for their tuition.
“We send Sh8,000 directly to public universities and this means that if fees is increased by whatever amount, we shall still require financial support to pay half of that fees directly to the universities,” said Mr Ringera.
He said with Sh48,000 fees increment, Helb would have to send Sh24,000 directly to universities to cater for tuition.
“This will translate to some Sh10 billion, which we shall require to support the students,” said Ringera.
Ringera spoke as it emerged that a team was being formed to spearhead the fees revision in public universities.
MPs last week asked the Ministry of Education to coordinate establishment of a team to plan a retreat for education sector players to discuss financial challenges in higher education.
Part of this discussion will be increase of fees, which universities managers said would help reduce their huge deficits.
University Education PS Simon Nabukwesi said the increment would take effect during next intake of students.
This means the first students to pay the revised fees would be those to be admitted in September next year.
