Thousands of needy learners in Meru County have a reason to smile after the devolved government and the National Government-Constituency Development Fund (NGCDF) issued bursary funds to them.
Speaking separately when they disbursed bursaries to schools, Meru Governor Kawira Mwangaza and Tigania West MP John Mutunga both said no child should be locked out of school when they reopen for the second term.
Mwangaza said she has set aside Ksh136 million for bursary while Mutunga issued Ksh63.3 million.
Mutunga underscored the importance of setting aside a significant amount of money for education over the past five years, noting that the mean scores in the constituency had significantly improvement.
“Our school principals have done very well, and our mean scores have improved commendably,” said the MP.
The MP said Tigania West, unlike some areas in Meru, does not have good climatic conditions for agriculture, hence the need to ensure children acquire education to benefit from other opportunities.
“We want our children to understand that it is only through education that living standards will be improved. We do not have reliable rainfall for agriculture to thrive, hence the need to get quality education,” Mutunga said.
He said that they have given priority to education in the constituency as per their five-year development plan.
At the same time, the legislator noted that the national government had placed education at the heart of its manifesto, with huge budgetary allocations.
“Education is taken very seriously in this country. Education is the greatest consumer of the national budget; more than Ksh650 billion is quite significant,” he said.
Mutunga said the allocation represents at least 25 per cent of the budget.
He said the amendment to the NGCDF law had increased bursary allocations from 35 per cent to 40 per cent.
The county government is issuing Ksh3 million worth of bursaries for each of the 45 Wards, with Governor Mwangaza promising to ease the financial burden on parents to boost school attendance.
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