*The Government Releases Sh29.7 Billion Funding For Basic And Higher Education*

The National Treasury has paid Sh29.7 billion in capital for basic learning and university education ahead of the reopening of schools on 26 August.

A press release from the ministry said the funds are part of Sh40 billion released to various state departments, including basic education and higher education and research.

The State Department of Basic Education was allocated Sh21.8 billion, of which Sh1.6 billion was allocated to free primary education for the third term.

Free Day secondary education was allocated Sh14.1 billion, while for Junior Secondary education 6.1 billion also for the third term.

The State Department of Higher Education and Research was awarded a total of Sh7.9 billion, of which Sh5.1 billion went to the Student Education Loan Board.

The remaining Sh2.8 billion was paid to the University Fund Board.

Separately, the Ministry of Education clarified in Parliament on Tuesday that the application deadline for university student funding in the new funding model has been extended to December 31, 2024. He said that the previous deadline of August 15, 2024 was strategically aimed at accelerated applications, building on past experiences where students tend to relax when given long application periods.

“The deadline was intended to put positive pressure on applicants to act quickly to facilitate the processing of data and the determination of family contributions in a timely manner,” said the Department of Higher Education and Research in his communication to the House of Representatives. “However, given the difficulties that some students face in applying for financial aid, the deadline for student funding applications is currently December 31, 2024; this has been communicated on the website,” he added. The ministry said that as of August 15, about 104,575 students had applied for funding.

He said this number had increased to 125,893 students as of August 16, including 8,530 KCSE 2022 students.

According to the ministry, the total number of candidates is now 127,623, of which 119,093 are part of the KCSE 2023 batch.

This number is almost 5,000 more than the number of students expected to apply for funding. “It was expected that 122,634 out of 153,275 students placed in various public and private universities will apply for funding,” the ministry said.

The ministry also clarified that the new university funding model, which provides grants and loans to students based on their level of need, only applies to the 2022 and 2023 KCSE cohorts, i.e. students from the first year and of the second year.

He said students in the KCSE 2021 batch and previous batches – meaning students from years three to six – will continue to be funded under the differentiated unit cost (DUC) model.

“Through this model, universities are financed by a capital grant determined by the number of students enrolled in each program, the cost of specific programs and available government resources,” the ministry said.