The presidential working party on education reforms now wants the government to bail out public universities from part of their debts.
The task force in their second interim report has presented the recommendation as a solution to the financial challenges facing varsities.
According to the state department of higher education, the varsity debts have accrued to Sh61 billion as of February 2023.
“The Government should provide universities with a bailout package for pension, CBA and salary arrears that are pending,” the report reads.
According to the Universities Fund, the debts had hit Sh56 billion as of June 2022.
The universities owe contractors Sh1.4 billion, part-time lecturers Sh4.5 billion, suppliers Sh4.8 billion, and Sacco contributions Sh4.1 billion.
NSSF is owed Sh139 million, at NHIF there are Sh2 million loan deductions worth Sh1.3 billion, pension schemes Sh18 billion and PAYE is owed Sh13 billion, while other loans have accumulated Sh10 billion.
“The penalties and interests on PAYE arrears should be waived and a conditional grant to cater for the principal PAYE arrears be provided,” the report reads.
The task force recommended that the government pays the full Differentiated Unit Cost.
The new funding model allows the government to pay 80 per cent while the 20 per cent is to be collected from school fees and other income sources.
However, the government has only been paying 48 per cent of the DUC.
“The Government should raise the DUC from the current 48.1 per cent to the recommended 80 per cent,” the report reads.
Further, the team led by Raphael Mungu called for the provision of development budgets for public universities.
This, Munavu said, will ensure proper maintenance of facilities, completion of stalled and new projects
