The leaders said that the current flat rate system of disbursement of the bursaries was discriminative and a disadvantage of elective areas with higher populations.
They said this while issuing bursaries to 1,900 form-one students from Kilifi County who have been admitted in national schools in Kilifi town.
Led by Sokoke ward Member of County Assembly (MCA), the leaders also urged school head teachers and principals not to send students home for school fees and instead make use of the national government’s capitation as they wait to release bursaries.
“For instance, In Kilifi County, each ward gets a Sh. 10 million ward scholarship fund but the population of students vary from one ward to the other. I want to ask that the allocation criteria be amended so that the distribution can be even,” said Taura.
The 1,900 students were selected after getting at least 350 marks and above and they will get a full tuition scholarship from Governor Gideon Mung’aro’s Sh. 150 million scholarship program.
Sheila Dayo, a parent from Mariakani whose son benefited from the fund thanked the Governor saying that the fund will enable parents to focus their energies on ensuring the beneficiaries study hard in their respective schools.
Mung’aro said that the students will get full scholarships and that no parent will pay fees for their beneficiary children.
“I am ordering my officers to ensure that by Monday all the students who scored 350 marks in KCPE report to the schools they were called and this is because we have enough funds for every student,”
Among the beneficiaries was Ephraim Mangi who emerged top in the County and second best in the Coast region and scored 421 marks in last year’s Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE).
Mung’aro issued cheques worth Sh. 57 million for first-term fees and urged the students to work hard in school.
The Kilifi County Executive Committee Member (CECM) Felkin Ndena Kaingu said that all students who got 350 marks in last year’s KCPE examinations will have all their first term tuition fees and that the same will happen every school term until they complete school.
“At the Governor’s scholarship fund, we have Sh. 150 million and we are paying full school fees for the first term and as soon as we receive funds, we shall complete the year. The program will run at the university.
Malindi MP Amina Mnyazi who was present challenged the national treasury to release funds for the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NGCDF) bursary program adding that the delay had made many students not report to school.
“I urge head teachers not to send students back home because of school fees. They are better off being in school than at home where we risk recording early and teenage pregnancies,” she said.
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