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{
"id": 201510,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/201510/?format=api",
"text_counter": 69,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Karaba",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 232,
"legal_name": "Daniel Dickson Karaba",
"slug": "daniel-karaba"
},
"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this is a very important motion. It has come to this House for deliberations and I fully support it. I wish to give the following suggestions. The Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) was established to save students who cannot afford to pay fees, particularly in our public and private universities. This Motion has come at the right time. That is because free primary education has already been initiated from Standard I up to Standard VIII. We have also been promised that next year, we will have free secondary education from Form I to Form IV. If that happens next year, we will have very many students proceeding to the universities. Some may not access university education because they could not sit for Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examinations due to lack of fees. But the fact that it would be free education come next year, we are going to see an increase of students proceeding to the universities in 2008. So, that calls for the Government and the Ministry of Education to think of ways and means of expanding the capacity at the universities because what we have right now may not be adequate. Of late, we have seen many Kenyan students moving towards the West - that is Uganda - for further education, particularly for university education. I have in mind a university called Kampala International University. Three quarters of students in that university are from Kenya. Many other universities in Uganda have also been dominated by Kenyan students. That is just because they cannot afford to get university places here in Kenya because of lack of space. Many students will qualify to join universities next year because of free secondary education. Many students will fail to join universities because of lack of fees. This Motion has, therefore, come at the right time. If it were not for the spirit of this Motion, many students who will complete Form 1V this year may not join universities because of lack of fees. So, if HELB, the way 4294 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES October 3, 2007 it is designed here, could continue helping and assisting students who cannot afford to pay fees because of their families poor financial background, it would be very good. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) is located at the 16th, 17th and 18th Floors of Anniversary Towers. Many students do not even know where that building is located. That building should be located at a more centralised location so that, majority of students can access it. I have in mind students who come from North Rift, North Eastern and Coast provinces. Those students have never been to their provincial capitals. They do not know where HELB offices are located. After signing the HELB loan forms, they have to bring them all the way to Nairobi to be processed. Those loans are to be processed within a timed framework. So, in most cases, many students are late to apply for those loans. The money is not even enough. They end up spending a lot of money travelling to and from Nairobi to check whether they have been allocated any money. So, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, once the Motion is passed - and I believe it will be passed - it will help students who had no time to come to Nairobi. It will help students who have no money to continue with university education. It will help students who do not even know how to access those funds. I support the spirit of this Motion. If HELB programmes could be decentralised to the constituencies - or even the district level - students could know how to get that money. That way, they will be seen as equals in terms of university education. Those loans should be extended to students who are unable to pay their fees. Of late, so long as you are able to obtain the forms, you can apply for those loans. That is disadvantageous to students from poor backgrounds because they cannot access the information. Those loans should not be given out to students who know where those forms are. We need more information about that department. The only way we can do it is to decentralise HELB. That is the spirit of this Motion. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, HELB loans are given to students in public universities. They are not given to students who attend private universities. There are some discrepancies. Private students are not given the same amount as those in public universities. The maximum a student in public university can get is Kshs65,000 per year. A student in private university can get a maximum of Kshs35,000. It is anticipated that those who attend private universities can afford to pay their fees. That is not the case. Majority of students in private universities cannot meet the requirements of public universities. The degree choices is also a great hinderance in the sense that some of the students may want to do a degree of their choice. If that degree of their choice is not offered by a university, the student would enrol in a private university. So, private universities, therefore, should not be seen as a way of discouraging students to get HELB loans. They help the students to access the degrees of their choice. That is also noted when the HELB money is given. I am, therefore, suggesting that even students in Module II Programme should be considered for HELB loans. We are going to consider students who would like to pursue degrees of their own choice. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this Motion is urging the Government to decentralise HELB and avail loans to students who cannot access the same from Anniversaries Towers. I am sure that when this Motion is passed, we will have an increase and fair distribution of that money. That is taxpayers' money. It should be well distributed. We are going to cater for those students who cannot afford to pay fees. Similarly, instead of HELB loans being given secretly to those who apply, let it be pegged on a grade system. If a student attains \"C\"+ or \"B\"- and he is poor, he or she should be given that money without further ado. We should not put very many bottle-necks. We should ensure that our students continue with their studies once they have passed. Let us peg it on degrees that are given by various universities and the performance of students in KCSE examinations. If \"C\"+ is the October 3, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 4295 minimum requirement for any student to get to the university, let it be pegged on that grade. If that happens, we are going to cater for parallel degree students, private students and those who attend public universities. That will really boost most of the students who cannot afford to continue with university education. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}