Elimu Working Group slams gov't 'arbitary' move to slash university fees by 40 percent

The Elimu Bora Working Group is demanding that President William Ruto make public the report and recommendations of the presidential working party on education reform.

The lobby has castigated the government for arbitrarily slashing university fees by up to 40 per cent without consulting stakeholders or allowing public participation.

They now want the Education Cabinet Secretary to issue binding circulars with real enforcement mechanisms against errant school heads, ensure strict auditing of school accounts, and create safe channels for parents to report extortion.

“We demand that President Ruto provide a comprehensive status report on the presidential working party on education and establish the actual cost of transitioning to CBE with adequate preparations and infrastructure development before any further transition,” said a member, Cornelius Oduor.

The group is also pushing for annual safety audits in schools, adequate infrastructure investment, and increased capitation grants to meet the true cost of quality education.

“The new education model for tertiary education has emerged as a weapon designed to destroy public university education in Kenya. The four means testing instrument has placed more students in batch four, creating unsustainable loan burdens and forcing students to abandon their dreams or to transfer to expensive private universities,” Maxwell Magawe stated.