The county government of Murang’a has issued Sh. 118 million bursaries to needy secondary school students.
The bursaries which are classified into four categories will benefit a total of 3, 000 bright and needy students in a bid to assist them in accessing education at the secondary level.
During the Education Day event which was graced by Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu, Governor Irungu Kang’ata said the top five pupils in the last Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams and from public schools, will receive Sh. 15, 000 each.
The financial support, Kang’ata, said is a way to motivate learners to work hard and get better marks in the national examinations.
Orphaned children from the county and those joining secondary schools each will get a bursary of Sh. 10, 000 and a similar amount will also be given to pupils with disabilities.
The county government has also increased ward bursaries from Sh. 1 million to Sh. 2 million to each ward where respective MCA will distribute the monies to needy learners.
“The county has increased the amounts being sent to wards for bursaries to Sh.2 million per ward. This will increase the number of beneficiaries across Murang’a,” Kang’ata noted.
The governor further stated his administration is giving students who have studied in day secondary schools and attained grades to join universities each Sh. 12, 000.
He underscored the improved standards of local day secondary schools saying some of the schools have performed better than boarding institutions.
“We have local day secondary schools like Muthithi, Ngurweini, and Karega which will take many students to university. For instance, Karega will take 100 students to university,” he observed.
The Governor thanked all teachers and stakeholders in Murang’a saying the county will strive to ensure education is accessible by all students.
On his part, Machogu refuted claims that the national government has the intention of taking over Early Childhood Development Education Centres (ECDE) from counties as proposed by President William Ruto’s work party on education reforms.
He said that both national and county governments have been complementing each other in education matters.
“The national government has no reason to interfere with the functions of county governments as laid down in the constitution.
“We follow the constitution as it was promulgated and it clearly stipulates the roles of both levels of the government. We complement each other,” explained Machogu.
He said Schedule Four of the constitution provides that ECDEs are a function of the counties, including their infrastructural development and employment of their teachers.
The CS however observed that most ECDE centres are premised in primary schools that are managed by the national government and are run by head teachers.
“We know some ECDEs share staff rooms with primary school teachers and some head teachers also deal with their administrative issues,” he said, adding that this informed the proposal to set up the comprehensive school system.
Meanwhile, Machogu lauded Kang’ata for implementing a feeding programme that sees over 42,000 ECDE learners in the county take a cup of porridge every day.
He said ECDE learning mostly entails engaging in activities to prepare them for grade one and that having a feeding programme helps the children focus on their learning.
The CS underscored a strong foundation at the early childhood level saying once a child gets an education basis at an early stage, he does well in other levels of education.
By Bernard Munyao
