By Robert Nyagah
More than 42,500 students from Kirinyaga County who want a share of the Ksh200 bursary the county government has set aside have undergone thorough vetting by the various Ward bursary committees before accessing the funds, governor Anne Waiguru has said.
It will cater for 32,397 secondary school, 5,388 university and 4,742 tertiary students. In the most recent distribution, the governor disbursed more than Ksh125 million.
This is an increase of more than Ksh87 million, the previous funding being Ksh113, a report released by the Kirinyaga County Communication’s Department indicates. According to the report, the number of learners mainly from poor families from across various learning institutions has grown from 40,000, to 42,500.
“These bursaries are aimed at enabling children from poor backgrounds to remain in school after enrolment. Institutions of learning need not send home those waiting for the bursaries as that would disrupt their learning,” said governor Waiguru.
She assured that the County Government of Kirinyaga was committed to supporting the education, noting that it will improve academic performance and ultimately, the lives of the youth in the county.
The future development of the County, Governor Waiguru said, would depend on the children targeted to benefit from the bursaries because after school and college education they would join the work force, with majority starting their own businesses.
She expressed her awareness that Kenyan parents were presently experiencing financial hardships because of the tough economic conditions prevailing, which had been made worse by the Covid-19 pandemic and the rising cost of commodities due to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
According to released details, Tebere Ward was allocated Ksh4.65 million; Ksh2.3 million going to 1,025 secondary school students, Ksh900,750 to 450 students in tertiary institutions as 351 university students got Ksh1.4 million.
Needy learners in Nyangati ward Sh. 4.65 million with 1,380 secondary school students receiving Sh. 3.5 million, 170 tertiary studying in institution’s got Sh.522, 000 against 196 university students who benefitted with Sh. 613,750.
The governor noted that her government appreciated the role played by donor agents and especially banks in supporting education programmes in the county through bursaries.
