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In this thread,
let me break down what Kenya is going to implement in our tertiary education, the travesty that will follow and why you need to make your voice heard about it.
In this thread,
let me break down what Kenya is going to implement in our tertiary education, the travesty that will follow and why you need to make your voice heard about it.
1. Government funding to universities is decreasing by 44% while funding for the Higher Education Loans Board has been reduced by 10%
Under the new model,students would receive a revised range of Sh37,000 to Sh47,000 pa as opposed to the previous range of Sh35,000 to Sh60,000 pa
Under the new model,students would receive a revised range of Sh37,000 to Sh47,000 pa as opposed to the previous range of Sh35,000 to Sh60,000 pa
I finished uni a decade ago when the loan funding range was Kes 35,000- Kes 60,000 and that wasn't enough even then and accounting for inflation and the current cost of living, the students will live in poverty considering that amount was to cover both fees and living costs.
We're reversing the policy of affordable education and entering the era of mass student debt, in an economy with mass unemployment and rising taxes and regulations across board making the cost of doing business inordinately prohibitive.
You're neither allowed to learn how to think and neither are you allowed to earn a living, to summarise my point above.
2. Kenya’s increasing tertiary education enrollment BUT only in “programs that provide students with the right competencies for the labor market.”
The government is basically going to defund humanities and arts courses under the pretence of "market-ready graduates"
The government is basically going to defund humanities and arts courses under the pretence of "market-ready graduates"
Humanities and the arts are the foundation of any society and they've steadily been under attack from Ruto's term as vice president and now he's implementing it fully.
The arts and humanities will be left to the children of the privileged.
Privileged children doing arts degrees as seen as expanding their knowledge and exposure while for children of the poor it's seen as wasting money and opportunities and setting yourself up for failure.
Privileged children doing arts degrees as seen as expanding their knowledge and exposure while for children of the poor it's seen as wasting money and opportunities and setting yourself up for failure.
3. Kenya's institutionalising the competency-based approach in tertiary education.
You know all the complaints we've had about the new primary and education curriculum dumbing down kids?
They're making sure that those kids never ever get a real education even as adults.
You know all the complaints we've had about the new primary and education curriculum dumbing down kids?
They're making sure that those kids never ever get a real education even as adults.
An education system based on market ready skills, which diminutises critical thinking is societal suicide.
4. Kenya's introducing “performance-based financing” for tertiary institutions which basically means they're defunding universities even further.
What are performance metrics for universities exactly to deserve funding?
What performance model is this for university funding that the World Bank only discovers for global south countries indebted to them that they don't discover for global north countries?
What performance model is this for university funding that the World Bank only discovers for global south countries indebted to them that they don't discover for global north countries?
The government will make up the most irrational and absurd metrics that universities need to meet, divorced from the basic reasons universities exist, and use that as an excuse to reduce funding.
It's only a matter of time.
It's only a matter of time.
"Over the years, 36 public universities have experienced financial difficulties. As of August 30 2023, universities had accumulated pending bills amounting to Kshs 76 billion. This triggered a financial crisis with 23 of the 40 universities being considered technically insolvent”
Egerton and Moi, two of Kenya's biggest public universities have gone through a phase in the past few years where both of them closed indefinitely due to insolvency and other public universities have barely been able to keep the lights on or pay salaries.
5. This inevitably leads to... 🥁 Private sector involvement!
Kenya’s incentivising the participation of the private sector in the definition of competencies, including on green skills, and the revision of curricula, including regarding content on "green skills."
Kenya’s incentivising the participation of the private sector in the definition of competencies, including on green skills, and the revision of curricula, including regarding content on "green skills."
How in TAF are we letting the private sector get involved in revising curricula and defining the "competencies" which will be used to shape our education system?
So this definitely means that McKinsey and their littu friends are coming in to make a killing.
So this definitely means that McKinsey and their littu friends are coming in to make a killing.
The private sector is definitely also going to make an entry point into Kenya with Private Equity funding because defunding of public universities kills them while presenting a new market for economic vultures to extract as much shareholder value as possible from education.
The private sector will make an entry into education in:
1. Setting up privately owned tertiary institutions
2. Providing student loan funding, since government student loan funding has been slashed
3. Edu- tech since we've decided to leapfrog basic infrastructure and funding.
1. Setting up privately owned tertiary institutions
2. Providing student loan funding, since government student loan funding has been slashed
3. Edu- tech since we've decided to leapfrog basic infrastructure and funding.
As if Kenya's education wasn't already perilously at the edge of the cliff, the WB- mandated structural adjustments to it, certainly sound the death knell for it.
I'm helpless about how and if we can fight back because Kenya's now bound to the string attached to the loans.
I'm helpless about how and if we can fight back because Kenya's now bound to the string attached to the loans.
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