Elimu scholarship programme will see 56 beneficiaries in Kirinyaga County, get fully funded by the Equity bank in conjunction with the Ministry of Education and the World Bank.
The programme aims at enabling students from vulnerable backgrounds to get empowered through education. The beneficiaries who are selected from the public schools must have scored a minimum of 280 marks in KCPE and must join a public secondary school.
According to Manager Equity Bank Kerugoya branch Simon Kanyingi, the bank will spend 1 per cent of total profit declared in funding the scholars countrywide. This amounts to Sh2 billion this year. “According to our bank, we will be spending 1 per cent of the declared profit toward financing this progamme. This year we have about 2 billion,” Kanyingi said.
The scholarship caters for full tuition fees for four years including a comprehensive mentorship programme. It also caters for a back-to-school hamper, psychosocial support, and medical care while in school.
“We will be paying an average of Sh54, 000 per student as fees in addition to other needs” he added.
Kirinyaga Central Deputy county commissioner (DCC) Daniel Ndege who presided over the flagging off of the scholars advised students who managed to get the scholarship to adhere to ministry regulations and work hard now that all their education needs have been catered for.
“You are now a marked students. We will be monitoring you to check your performance now that your needs have been catered for. No excuse at all,” DCC said.
Speaking to media on the sideline of the event, Ndege said the major challenge especially during COVID-19 period was early pregnancies and drug abuse. He said they have almost solved the problem completely and urged the parents to take control of their children.
“In recent past during Covid period, the challenge we faced involving young pupils was teenage pregnancies and drug abuse.”
“We blame the parents because they didn’t guide their children though we have solve the issued and no more case is being reported,” Ndege added.
He also noted the Kirinyaga central has registered 96 per cent transition to secondary schools in government effort to ensure 100% transition.
Data from Elimu Acholarship Programme indicates that over 9000 thousand students who sat for the 2021 KCPE around the country were picked to be sponsored by the programme that started three years ago and to date 27,000 needy students have benefited.
By Mutai Kipng’etich
