Some 1,200 Kiambu County students have benefitted from bursaries worth over KSh11.5 million from the National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF).
The fund is under the patronage of Woman Representative Anne Wamuratha.
Speaking at her office in Kiambu town, Wamuratha said beneficiaries from high schools received KSh8,000 each, day school students received KSh 5,000 each while those in colleges, TVETs and universities got KSh10,000 each.
“Of the 1,200 needy cases that applied for bursaries, we were able to give all of them as we had looked into their cases,” Wamuratha said.
She said that they were able to put 82 needy students on full scholarship and are targeting to put over 200 needy students on full scholarship.
Full scholarship
“We believe by May this when NGAAF disburses the next tranche of bursaries the Fund will also fully sponsor over 100 students in the education and by the end of year we will get another 100 students to fully sponsor so that we have over 200 students who are getting full scholarships,” she said.
She said that the National Assembly Committee on Education has been reviewing the need for Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) to be considered for bursaries so that no student should be left behind in having a right to education.
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“We have been having talks in the Parliament to consider JSS students for bursaries and there has been a national debate to have all buries be consolidated so that every child can have a right to education,” she said.
She added that the Ministry of Education has been able to construct classrooms in public primary schools to facilitate Grade 9 transition.
“Grade 9 will be in our primary schools and the Ministry of Education has been able to build classrooms,” she said.
She said that through the National Government Constituency Development funds (NG-CDF) the Members of Parliament have complemented the government in building new classrooms for Grade 9.
“There could be some challenges in some classrooms in Kiambu that are yet to be completed and that is being taken care of. I can assure you our students will go to Grade 9 despite the small crisis as those classrooms yet to be completed will be completed soon,” she said.
Consolidation
She said that the debate in Parliament to have bursary funds be consolidated is ongoing and it should be debated strongly looking into its advantages and disadvantages so as to have balances.
“It is true that there is crisis in the distribution of bursaries, and we need to have balances as we have bursaries for woman representatives, governors, members of parliament and President,” she said.
She said the leaders use the disbursement of bursaries to interact with their electorate and this could lead to resistance of the bursary funds being consolidated but through consultation and goodwill it can be consolidated.
She said Kenyans are ready to pay taxes, asking the government to ensure the collected taxes fund free education among other projects, to ease the burden of parents having to pay school fees.
“Kenyans are not refusing to pay taxes but they are more concerned about where it will go. Those who are in charge of collecting taxes should look into what the taxes collected are used for. We do not want to be taxed then when we go to hospitals we are told to pay, or Kenyans are told to go wait for bursaries. The collected taxes should fund all this,” the MP said.
She said Kenyans are struggling to raise money to pay for school fees due to the high cost of living with many resulting to apply for bursary.
“It is not the wish of Kenyans to come and look for bursaries, it is the high cost of living that has pushed them. The taxes should help fund free education,” she said.
By Felix Wanderi
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