30,516 students from Kisumu county have benefitted from bursaries worth Ksh102.5 million.
Speaking while issuing out cheques to the beneficiaries, Deputy Governor Dr Mathew Owili said there were 52,984 applicants but only the deserving qualified for the bursaries.
He revealed that the Ksh205 million bursary allocation for the 2022/2023 financial year had over 30,000 beneficiaries.
In 2018, the bursary allocations per ward were doubled from Ksh2M to Ksh4.1million. In the same year, the number of students on scholarship per ward increased from 8 to 10.
For the first time in the 2021/2022 financial year, the county government supported 70 marine students drawn from each of the 35 wards in the county.
“The county spent Ksh60, 000 on each of the student, totalling to Ksh4.2 million. Today’s disbursement also includes Ksh4.3 million for those taking marine training,” he said.
To ensure transparency and accountability, the county government established County and Ward Education Bursary and Scholarship Committees which have done a commendable job.
Dr Owili, who was flanked by the CECM Education John Awiti, appealed to the bursary and scholarship vetting committees to exercise high degree of professionalism and transparency while handling applications.
He urged them to only pick those deserving of the bursaries.
Owili said the education department has been very focused and consistent in the preparation and distribution of bursaries and scholarships in our county.
‘I also salute our department of Finance, economic planning and e-government for ensuring that the bursary kitty does not dry up,’ he said.
The deputy governor revealed that the country government led by governor Anyang’ Nyong’o will ensure no needy child fails to go to school.
He added that the County has been blazing the trail in the expansion of vocational training, which is an important enabler in the economic growth of any nation.
“We’ve increased the number of VTCs in Kisumu from 20 to 26 and we’re striving to establish at least one VTC per ward,” he said, adding that the construction of a VTC in Lela is nearing completion.
Dr Owili said so far, the county has spent approximately Ksh206 million in capitation grants and urged the youth to enrol in VTCs near them since the county guarantees partial payment of applicable fees of Ksh15,000.
He added that the county has also increased the number of ECDE centres to 684: 627 are anchored in primary schools and 57 are stand- alone public centres.
The public ECDE centres have a total enrolment of 52,818.
The deputy governor revealed that as a result of the good work done by the ECDE teachers, the county government doubled their salaries to make them the best paid teachers in the country.
665 teachers have also been employed on permanent and pensionable terms.
By Fredrick Odiero
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