Thousands of students at the Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) are set to begin accessing loans from the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) following a Presidential directive. The move is intended to prevent qualified trainees from abandoning their studies due to financial hardship.
President William Ruto has directed the Ministry of Education to include students at the Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) in the upcoming education financing framework.
The move is aimed at ensuring KMTC students benefit from government funding. The new framework seeks to merge the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB), the TVET Fund, and the University Fund into a single entity to improve student support in tertiary institutions.
The merger will take effect once the Tertiary Education Placement and Funding Bill, 2024, approved by the Cabinet on February 10, is passed by Parliament. The President instructed Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba to ensure KMTC students are included in time to benefit from the next semester.
Ruto issued the directive during the commissioning of the Affordable Housing Project at KMTC Nyamache Campus in Kisii County. “As you work around the Bill, ensure that KMTC students receive an allocation for the next semester,” the President said.
Ogamba confirmed that the Bill has already been tabled before Parliament and includes provisions for students across the country, including those in KMTC. The new framework follows recommendations from the Presidential Working Party on Education Reform, which aim to eliminate inefficiencies in the education sector.
“Cabinet has further considered, adopted, and forwarded to Parliament a package of education reform Bills, marking a comprehensive overhaul of Kenya’s education system,” a government dispatch stated.
The reforms are intended to align governance, curriculum, assessment, financing, teacher training, and qualifications with the Constitution and the Competency-Based Education framework.
The President also said the government will increase investment in KMTC to support the recruitment of more staff across the country. He added that the government will continue implementing the affordable housing project within the college to improve student welfare.
“When the infrastructure is ready, more courses will be taught at the college and enable the training of more professionals,” Ruto said. KMTC currently operates over 90 campuses across 45 counties, offering certificate, diploma, and higher diploma medical programmes.
This decision addresses a critical gap in student financing, placing medical trainees on par with their university and TVET counterparts. As the new funding model is developed, it is expected to align with the student-centered approach recently adopted for universities, which considers both the course cost and the student's financial need. This ensures that the most vulnerable students receive the greatest support, strengthening the pipeline of healthcare workers essential for a healthy nation.
