President William Ruto has called for the construction of better hostels for university students.

The President made the remark during Masinde Muliro University’s 18th  graduation ceremony on Friday, where he was the chief guest.

While offering a solution, Ruto called upon universities to work loosely with the Ministry of Housing for better shelters.

“I ask all universities to work with the Ministry of Housing to be given a template and mechanism for the construction of hostels, instead of students living in deplorable informal areas,” he said.

Some university and college hostels are in a deplorable state.

The hostels have faded paint and dilapidated roofs.

Dangerous insects such as bedbugs are also a nuisance for students.

The discomfort has led to students opting out of the hostels and settling for apartments outside their institutions.

This forces parents to incur extra costs of housing their children.

The Ministry of Education should ensure students have a good environment to scale their academic heights.