The Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) has announced a waiver on clearance certificates to non-beneficiaries making it free.
In a statement, the student loans agency said they have waived the initially mandatory Ksh1,000 paid by job seekers to get cleared.
“…It has repeatedly come to our attention that the charges for non-loanee compliance certificate are perceived to be punitive, especially to the many unemployed youths who did not benefit from the student loans,” the statement read in part.
According to the statement, this update is effective from July 15th as HELB management honors the concerns of Kenyans following the current unemployment situation.
“Given the foregoing issues raised by Kenyans, HELB has stopped charging Ksh1,000 for issuance of the Compliance Certificate with effect from 15th July 2020,” it says.
The certificates which are now free of charge are accessible via the HELB website: www.helb.co.ke and the eCitizen portal as well.
In 2019, the Senate filed a petition seeking to scrap off some of the compliance certificate fees that are burdensome to most job seekers.
“When you put all these charges together, a job seeker needs about Sh6,000 to apply for a job that is not even guaranteed,” Nairobi Senator Johson Sakaja stated in 2019.
Initially, HELB had said it will only lower the fee once they digitize the service.
Some organizations seek to see job applicants’ compliance certificate so they can know one’s financial plan before they can hire them.