The Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) has announced a 100% penalty waiver.HELB Chief Executive Officer Charles Ringera said the 100% COVID-19 penalty waiver dubbed 'Kamilisha Malipo Ya HELB' will run until 30th April 2022.

He noted that COVID-19 affected the economy leading to unemployment, challenging business environment and inadequate funding from the National Treasury resulting into a funding challenge for students.

"HELB appreciates the fact that owing to the prevailing economic situation, the loan beneficiaries' repayment ability may take some time to stabilize," Ringera said.

Ringera noted that the move is aimed at encouraging loanees to repay their loans to allow the facility to benefit other students.

The loans board has previously offered a 100% waiver in 2013 where 10,110 beneficiaries paid off 1.3 billion shillings. In 2018, the exercise yielded 870 million shillings in loan repayments from 9,998 beneficiarie