Imenti South MP Kathuri Murungi calls for increased funding for Helb

Imenti South MP Kathuri Murungi has called for increased funding for the Higher Education Loans Board (Helb) to help it deal with its budget shortfalls.

Mr Murungi said the government, through the Ministry of Education, should allocate more money to the board to match the increased number of students offered place in different institutions of higher learning.

“The ministry should request for money through the National Assembly. As parliamentarians, we can consider the request for the supplementary budget around March 2015,” said Mr Kathuri.

The lawmaker said it was important that the government help address the issues that the board and other institutions of higher learning face.

This comes in the wake of revelations that more than 30,000 first-year university students may miss out on government loans in January 2015 due to an unprecedented number of applications.

(READ: Helb in crisis as more apply for varsity loans)

Helb boss Charles Ringera on Monday disclosed that they had received 110,000 first-time applications so far, against a projected figure of 79,000.

Submissions will close at the end of November, meaning the numbers could rise, further complicating matters for a board currently struggling with low funding from the exchequer and is short on alternative sources.

Although Mr Ringera said it was too early to talk about “a funding gap”, he noted that the agency was heightening recovery mechanisms as one way of meeting the high demand.

Mr Ringera attributed the surge in the number of applicants to the double-intake programme, which sees public universities admit two groups of freshmen in the same academic year.

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The rising number of universities in the country — now standing at 68 — has also pushed up the demand for loans and bursaries.

The board finances more than 80 per cent of the university students who are dependent on the loans.

Mr Murungi noted it was equally important to invest in educating the youth, who he said are a valuable asset to the country’s economic and social development.

At the same time, the MP noted that many students were also flocking the constituency for bursaries.

“The issue has been compounded by the fact that tea prices, a commodity on which most people in my area depend, have dropped, meaning a majority of them are unable to pay for university education.

"Taxes and other levies imposed on tea should be lowered or scrapped,” he said.