The County Government of Uasin Gishu recently raised a red flag over the poor repayment of educational loans given out to students for the last 8 years.
The loans were disbursed under the Education Revolving Fund in which needy students joining technical Institutions were given financial support.
So far, Ksh277 million has been disbursed to 3,600 students over the years.
However, to date, only Ksh1 million has been repaid, raising concerns from the county.
County Executive Committee Member for Education Dr Janet Kosgei warns that poor repayment might cripple the Revolving Fund program.
“The program was designed on the basis of students repaying back the money so that others can benefit,” Dr Kosgei told Uasin Gishu News.
But in a bid to ensure the initiative is not halted for lack of repayment, the County Executive revealed a number of strategies they had resolved to use in their recovery process.
County internship program
One of them includes getting in touch with the beneficiaries to know their current status.
“We’re now working with the Revolving Fund Board to ensure we get in touch with the beneficiaries so that we bring them on board and agree on favourable repayment terms,” Dr Kosgey said.
Further, the county is mulling to include all the students that benefited from the program in their internship initiative.
The initiative allows students to be placed at various relevant organizations to enable them to get industry skills while the county pays them a monthly stipend.
An individual under the internship program with a diploma gets Ksh10,000 monthly from the county.
“We are also considering absorbing the graduands in the internship program so that we have a way of recovering our money,” noted the education CECM.
She also asked those that benefited and have secured jobs to start repaying so that others can benefit.
Most of the students that benefited from the Education Revolving Fund studied several technical courses at the Rift Valley Technical Training Institute (RVTTI).
Others were later enrolled on the Kenya Technical Trainers College (KTTI) which has since remained to Kenya School of TVET.
