President William Ruto’s administration has received a blow after the High Court ruled that the new university education funding model was unconstitutional.
In a ruling on Friday, December 20, Justice Chacha Mwita said that the funding model is discriminatory as all students in Kenya have a right to education.
The court argued that it was the government’s responsibility to fund public universities, and passing that responsibility to parents is erroneous.
Justice Mwita also said that the model ought to have been subjected to public participation, as it had some legislative aspects that needed to be tabled and subjected to Parliament.
The Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) filed the case last year, seeking to have the model declared unconstitutional, as it does not prioritise needy students.
According to the petitioners, the new funding model was confusing when it comes to selecting TVET courses.
“The variable scholarship and loan funding model is arbitrary, obscure, expensive, undefined and illegality; an affront to the right to education as part of economic social rights,” part of the petition read.
