HELB Attributes Small Allocations to Surging Demand

Speaking at a Kericho hotel, the board’s CEO Charles Ringera said there are little funds available to distribute to the many students in various institutions of higher learning.

He said the board has introduced a smartcard payment system of the funds to reduce congestion while disbursing the funds through bank accounts.

Ringera said the Sh35,000 they were allocating students is too little compared to the increasing university fees, adding that last year the board received over 110,000 applications.

The HELB boss was speaking during the launch of a revolving fund of Sh100 million to be paid to the board by the Kericho County Government.

He said the board only funded 60,000 new students to a tune of Sh2.1 billion while 120,000 continuing students were funded to a tune of Sh5.8 billion.