By Felix Wanderi
Kiambu County Governor James Nyoro has called upon Kiambu county political leadership and education stakeholders to unite and address the issue of the county’s bright students not being selected for enrolment in national schools within the county.
Nyoro speaking on Monday while issuing Sh90 million worth of bursaries to 25,000 needy but bright students said that the issue has been there for too long as, in one national school only one student from Kiambu was enrolled.
“You hear of a student who has scored 350 marks has been selected to join a sub national school in a school in a far-away county and many do not report to those schools due to challenges and end up enrolled in a nearby day school. We have to talk about this thing,” said Nyoro.
He promised to convene a meeting so that the issue can be discussed and have an additional class in the national schools which will accommodate county bright students where the county government will marshal support.
County bursary beneficiaries are not sent home as the county government writes to schools to tell them to wait until the exchequer releases funds to the county to avoid agony.
2,145 scholarships to vocational training got Sh3.1 million, people living with disabilities saw 495 students benefitting with Sh2.9 million, day and boarding schools’ 11, 200 students benefitted with Sh32 million, 2, 600 universities students beneficiaries got Sh13.4 million and 6,000 form one students received Sh20 million.
Esther Kamau, the County Executive Committee for Education said that0 her department have been shocked on the emerging cases that needed to be addressed of gender based violence, teenage pregnancies, alcoholism and drug abuse which directly or indirectly affected the learners, adding that they were thinking of introducing mentorship programme under the bursary fundings.
“We may need to make a follow up to the learners and make sure that we take them through the mentorship programme so that we inculcate the right behaviours to them, “said kamau.
However Kiambu County Assembly Committee on Education led by Karuri ward member Peter Wainana and other County Assembly members said that the bursary fund per beneficiary is little owing to the high demand which has left beneficiaries getting as little as Sh2, 000.
