Why varsity students were placed in wrong funding band

It is now emerging that the tool used to classify students for university funding is facing limitations that could have resulted to wrong grouping of some students.

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Education indicated that about five per cent of the 113,000 students placed to university under the government funding program were wrongly classified.

Head of Public Service Felix Koskei attributed the problem of misclassification to a lack of integrity in the classification process. 

He claimed that many students had falsified their family income information, reporting significantly lower earnings than their actual financial situation. 

This deception was motivated by the hope of securing higher government funding.

"A substantial number of students were declaring parental incomes below Sh20,000, but our verification efforts revealed that they were being dishonest," Koskei said during the opening of the National Research Festival in Nairobi.

A document tabled before Parliament on Tuesday by the Ministry of Education supports the Head of Public Service’s claim.

The document revealed discrepancies in accuracy of information provided by applicants. It unearthed wider range of challenges facing the Ministry model of classification.

The Ministry admitted that there was a problem in identifying the number of dependents in a student's family.

This is one of the parameters used to determine what a student will need in government funding.

The Ministry of Education uses the Means Testing Instrument (MTI) to determine a student’s classification and place them into the appropriate funding bands. 

The tool used to gauge financial need has also come under scrutiny, with several key limitations identified.

The number of siblings is one of the factors that determines the amount of government support a student needs.

However, the government relies on the virtual school register, known as National Education Management Information System (Nemis) and the Higher Education Loans Board (Helb) to verify the information declared by the student.

However, gaps in data occurred for students who had not applied through Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) or listed for Helb loan.

"Many students relied on cybercafes for application, leading to potential errors in data entry. To address this, we have implemented an operational mechanism for appeals through our online portal," the document reads.

To address this, the Ministry of Education is developing a comprehensive virtual learners register to be known as Kenya Management Information System (Kemis) to bridge these data gaps.

Additionally, errors in banding results communicated by universities were identified. To ensure accuracy, universities have instituted a screening process and are confirming the accuracy of electronically generated letters.

Students are also encouraged to verify their loan and scholarship awards on the Higher Education Funding (HEF) portal.

In two documented cases, universities also made mistakes in communicating student funding categories. 

Due to limited funding, the document further indicates that some students may be placed in lower funding bands than their actual financial circumstances warrant.