14,000 2023 KCPE learners benefit from Elimu Scholarships

More than 14,000 learners who sat the 2023 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education have been awarded scholarships under the Elimu Bora program. 

Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu presided over the award ceremony which took place on Friday at Bomas in Nairobi. 

Machogu noted that during the 2024 scholarship applications, a total of 95,016 applied for the scholarship from whom the Ministry picked only 14,426, including refugees.  

"So far, the program supported 37,574 learners from poor households across the country to transition from primary to secondary education," the CS said. 

"The additional 14,426 we are about to launch today means that the Government is going to give hope to 52,000 learners across the country."

Machogu said the initiative is part of the government's broader goal of 100 per cent transition, which ensures that no child is left behind in the education system.

The CS said under the Elimu Scholarship program, the government supports the Free Day Secondary Education program, which has made it possible for thousands of children to transition to secondary education. 

He noted that the program is currently in its fifth cohort of implementation. 

"Our first Elimu scholars sat the Keya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) Examination in 2023. Of all the 9,000 scholarly, 42 per cent (or 3,780) of them qualified for University Education after attaining a mean Grade of C+ and above," Machogu said.

The rest, Machogu said obtained grades that will comfortably enable them to join middle-level education and training colleges.

Further, the CS announced that all the 2023 KCSE candidates who befitted from the Elimu Scholarship Program and scored mean grades of A and A- (Minus) will automatically qualify to join the Equity Leadership Program.

He said the Equity leadership program will expose them to work experience and leadership training within Equity Group across the country, as they await to join the university.

"During the program, the students will have an opportunity to start earning Sh40,000 per month," he said. 

He said this will accord the beneficiaries of the Elimu Scholarship program another opportunity to not only learn but also earn.