Kwale county government has disbursed Sh 95.6 million for bursaries to 2,685 bright needy students in national secondary schools.
Schools across the country are set to reopen on January 6, 2025 for the start of the new academic year after the long end year holiday break.
Governor Fatuma Achani who presided over the bursary issuance event said the devolved government wants to ensure that no child is left behind in matters of education as schools reopen next week.
“We want the beneficiaries whose parents cannot afford school fees to focus on their studies as schools reopen for the first term,” she said.
Governor Achani stated the sponsored continuing secondary school students under the county’s Sh500 million ‘Elimu Ni Sasa’ bursary scheme come from across the 20 administrative wards of the coastal county.
“The Sh95.6 million bursary cheques will benefit 2,685 students at the national secondary school level,” she said, adding that a further Sh100 million will be released next week to cater for students at the county level schools.
Achani said the funds would be directly electronically wired to the schools and urged the beneficiaries to work hard in school noting that education is a tool for socio-economic change.
The county’s Elimu Ni Sasa bursary programme that started in 2013 targets bright needy students joining secondary schools and universities.
She said her administration will continue to heavily invest in education scholarships as it remains the only reliable tool in changing human society.
Achani was speaking during the bursary disbursement exercise at the county headquarters in Kwale town attended by Matuga MP Kassim Tandaza, Kwale Women Representative Fatuma Masito and a host of MCAs and County Executives.
“Since the inception of devolution in 2013 the county has fully sponsored 8,842 students who joined national secondary schools from Kwale,” she said.
She added ‘an average of 16,805 secondary school students and 6,000 college and university students get bursaries every financial year from the devolved unit’.
The coastal county boss vowed that the devolved government will continue to support the education needs of secondary and college students through the Elimu Ni Sasa initiative.
Achani said that she believes that developing education will also help tackle social vices like drug and substance abuse and crime among the youth.
She cautioned that going forward students who consistently post good performance in schools and colleges will continue to benefit from the bursary scheme while those performing poorly would be discontinued.
Achani says the Elimu Ni Sasa initiative has been instrumental in positioning Kwale County as a leader in sustainable educational practices thus making education accessible and impactful.
MPs Tanzada and Masito urged the local political leadership and residents to support the Programme which they noted aims to substantially improve literacy and numeracy rates in Kwale.
The two said the Elimu Ni Sasa initiative has enabled many needy bright students to join secondary schools, special needs institutions and colleges and has been a relief to poor parents who cannot shoulder the burden of school fees.
Tandaza urged the beneficiaries to take their academic activities seriously noting that education is the springboard to self-development and accomplishment of one’s dreams and goals in life.
He said quality education was a sure way of protecting the future of the younger generation and urged the county to increase the budgetary allocation to education.
Masito heaped praise on the bursary education scheme stating that it has gone a long way in tackling child marriages, teenage pregnancies and school dropout rates.
She said the programme has transformed the education landscape in Kwale and also helped improve school performances as local students fight to win the county’s full scholarship.
She said quality education is a guaranteed way of empowering the youth and positioning them well for future opportunities.
By Hussein Abdullahi
