•Meanwhile, teacher employment in public primary schools increased by 1.2 per cent to 220,744 in 2021.
•According to the survey, funding for public universities is expected to grow by 4.6 per cent to Sh43.8 billion in 2021/22 .
The number of needy students who required government funding for their university education dropped by 3.2 per cent in the 2020-2021 academic year.
The Economic Survey 2022 by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) indicates that HELB loan applicants declined to 376,100 in 2020/21 and the amount awarded to beneficiaries declined by 6.6 per cent to Sh 14.2 billion in the 2020/21 academic year.
The report further indicates that a total of Sh.14,444 million was awarded in loans and bursaries in 2020/21 out of which Sh.237 million was bursaries.
This is as Higher Educations Loans Board (HELB) CEO Charles Ringera raised concerns in a recent interview that the board had been faced with funding challenges.
"This, coupled with inadequate funding from the exchequer (National Treasury) has inadvertently created a funding challenge for students seeking HELB loans," he added.
Meanwhile, teacher employment in public primary schools increased by 1.2 per cent to 220,744 in 2021.
The KNBS report said teachers in public secondary and teachers in colleges increased by 6.3 per cent to 120,279 in 2021.
Further, teacher enrollment in pre-primary increased by 0.4 per cent to 2,845,300 in 2021.
It further showed that the number of those enrolled in primary schools increased by 1.1 per cent to 10,285,100 in 2021 while enrollment in secondary schools increased by 4.9 per cent to 3.7 million in 2021.
Meanwhile, enrollment in TVET institutions increased by 1 0.4 per cent to 498,300 in 2021 while universities enrollment is expected to grow by 2.8 per cent to 562,100 in 2021/22.
According to the survey, funding for public universities is expected to grow by 4.6 per cent to Sh43.8 billion in 2021/22.