Allow NFM students to take their exams
The Issue
Stop Locking Out Students Over the New Funding Model (NFM): Fix Flawed Banding, Clear Exam Cards, and Guarantee Free Access to Education
Public universities nationwide are blocking students from sitting examinations, denying exam cards, or coercing them into taking compulsory academic leaves due to unpaid fee balances. These balances are not caused by student negligence; they are the direct consequence of the broken, discriminatory, and unworkable New Higher Education Funding Model (NFM).
Instead of democratizing higher education, the NFM has locked out thousands of deserving learners, plunged poor families into debt, and triggered an unprecedented crisis across Kenyan universities.
The Crisis on the Ground: What Students and Families Face
* A Flawed Means Testing Instrument (MTI): The automated algorithm treats household income without factoring in real disposable income, extended dependents, or high living costs. Vulnerable orphans and children of peasant farmers or low-wage earners are routinely dumped into Band 4 and Band 5, demanding out-of-pocket household contributions exceeding Ksh 70,000 to Ksh 120,000 per semester that their families cannot afford.
* Cruel and Illegal Exam Lockouts: Despite directives from the Ministry of Education warning institutions not to punish students over delayed state funding, university administrations continue imposing blanket bans at the exam door. Students who spent the entire semester in lecture halls and completed all continuous assessments are locked out on exam morning over contested balances.
* A Paralyzed Appeals Process: Thousands of student appeals submitted to HELB and the Universities Fund remain unresolved, stuck in bureaucratic limbo with no clear timelines. Students cannot appeal while exams are ongoing, leaving them at the mercy of shylocks and predatory lenders just to clear balances and write tests.
* A Looming Student Debt Trap: By slashing public capitation and shifting grants to high-interest loans, the NFM saddles vulnerable youth with debt burdens running into hundreds of thousands of shillings upon graduation.
* Institutional Collapse: Delays in government disbursements have left public universities functionally bankrupt, unable to pay lecturer salaries, settle statutory deductions, or maintain lab facilities, causing strikes and disrupted semesters.
Education is an enforceable constitutional right under Article 43(1)(f), not a privilege reserved exclusively for those who can pay upfront.
Our Demands
We call upon the Ministry of Education, the Universities Fund (UF), the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB), and the Public Universities Vice-Chancellors Committee to implement the following immediate interventions:
1. Unconditional Clearance for All Examinations: Enforce an immediate, binding executive circular prohibiting universities from denying exam cards, locking examination halls, or forcing students onto academic leave over NFM-related fee delays.
2. Open and Transparent Re-evaluation of MTI Categorization: Discard the opaque algorithmic scoring of the Means Testing Instrument. Re-categorize students using decentralized, verifiable, institution-level vetting involving student representatives and local administrative leaders.
3. Expedited Clearance of All Pending Appeals: Resolve the backlog of appeals immediately and backdate scholarships so that misclassified students in Bands 4 and 5 are appropriately funded without penalty.
4. Restoration of Direct Institutional Capitation: Rebalance the model to ensure stable operational funding reaches universities directly, ending the conflict between struggling administrations and impoverished students.
Stand With Kenyan Students
No Kenyan youth should have their degree delayed or terminated because an algorithm misjudged their poverty.
Sign and share this petition to demand fairness, end exam lockouts, and ensure every student has the right to learn and be examined.
5
The Issue
Stop Locking Out Students Over the New Funding Model (NFM): Fix Flawed Banding, Clear Exam Cards, and Guarantee Free Access to Education
Public universities nationwide are blocking students from sitting examinations, denying exam cards, or coercing them into taking compulsory academic leaves due to unpaid fee balances. These balances are not caused by student negligence; they are the direct consequence of the broken, discriminatory, and unworkable New Higher Education Funding Model (NFM).
Instead of democratizing higher education, the NFM has locked out thousands of deserving learners, plunged poor families into debt, and triggered an unprecedented crisis across Kenyan universities.
The Crisis on the Ground: What Students and Families Face
* A Flawed Means Testing Instrument (MTI): The automated algorithm treats household income without factoring in real disposable income, extended dependents, or high living costs. Vulnerable orphans and children of peasant farmers or low-wage earners are routinely dumped into Band 4 and Band 5, demanding out-of-pocket household contributions exceeding Ksh 70,000 to Ksh 120,000 per semester that their families cannot afford.
* Cruel and Illegal Exam Lockouts: Despite directives from the Ministry of Education warning institutions not to punish students over delayed state funding, university administrations continue imposing blanket bans at the exam door. Students who spent the entire semester in lecture halls and completed all continuous assessments are locked out on exam morning over contested balances.
* A Paralyzed Appeals Process: Thousands of student appeals submitted to HELB and the Universities Fund remain unresolved, stuck in bureaucratic limbo with no clear timelines. Students cannot appeal while exams are ongoing, leaving them at the mercy of shylocks and predatory lenders just to clear balances and write tests.
* A Looming Student Debt Trap: By slashing public capitation and shifting grants to high-interest loans, the NFM saddles vulnerable youth with debt burdens running into hundreds of thousands of shillings upon graduation.
* Institutional Collapse: Delays in government disbursements have left public universities functionally bankrupt, unable to pay lecturer salaries, settle statutory deductions, or maintain lab facilities, causing strikes and disrupted semesters.
Education is an enforceable constitutional right under Article 43(1)(f), not a privilege reserved exclusively for those who can pay upfront.
Our Demands
We call upon the Ministry of Education, the Universities Fund (UF), the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB), and the Public Universities Vice-Chancellors Committee to implement the following immediate interventions:
1. Unconditional Clearance for All Examinations: Enforce an immediate, binding executive circular prohibiting universities from denying exam cards, locking examination halls, or forcing students onto academic leave over NFM-related fee delays.
2. Open and Transparent Re-evaluation of MTI Categorization: Discard the opaque algorithmic scoring of the Means Testing Instrument. Re-categorize students using decentralized, verifiable, institution-level vetting involving student representatives and local administrative leaders.
3. Expedited Clearance of All Pending Appeals: Resolve the backlog of appeals immediately and backdate scholarships so that misclassified students in Bands 4 and 5 are appropriately funded without penalty.
4. Restoration of Direct Institutional Capitation: Rebalance the model to ensure stable operational funding reaches universities directly, ending the conflict between struggling administrations and impoverished students.
Stand With Kenyan Students
No Kenyan youth should have their degree delayed or terminated because an algorithm misjudged their poverty.
Sign and share this petition to demand fairness, end exam lockouts, and ensure every student has the right to learn and be examined.
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Petition created on 2 September 2026