The Kenya National Union of Teachers Masaba branch has thrown its weight behind education Cabinet Secretary’s efforts to reach private universities in a move targeting to lure them towards enrolling government sponsored students.
The government is targeting to have a number of students who qualify for government support after scoring a minimum of C+ to be enrolled in public universities, a policy which has never been implemented due to the limited capacity of public institutions.
Speaking to the reporter on Sunday, Deputy Secretary General James Oteki said the union was fully behind Fred Matiang’i’s efforts.
“As a union, we want to see more students who score C+ and above in KCSE being absorbed to the government sponsorship programs. That is the spirit we want as union members,” Oteki said.
“The private universities will help many students get life skills rather than having their dreams sabotaged due to limited places in government sponsored institutions. We pray for the CS and hopefully they will strike a deal,” added the longtime KNUT member.
He said the move will be a ‘relief’ to students from poor backgrounds who miss direct admission to public institutions even after managing to score the minimum entry to universities.
“We have seen students from impoverished backgrounds miss admissions even after scoring well due to limited places in existing public universities. We pray hard that our private universities reach a decision that will help us combat such sad incidents,” he said during a telephone interview.