Murang'a students joining universities to get Sh10,000 each

 @Alicewangechi

About 1,013 KCSE candidates from Murang’a who attained university enrolment points in last year’s exam will receive Sh10,000 to help them enrol for their degree courses.

Murang’a county government has expanded the scholarship programme to include the candidates to motivate them to further their education.

The programme dubbed ‘Nyota Zetu’ will include day school students and will motivate teachers and students to perform better.

The programme was started in 2019 by former Governor Mwangi wa Iria.

It aimed at supporting 1,000 Form 1 students enrolled in boarding secondary schools.

Currently, it has over 4,500 students with the first batch being in Form 4.

It would also ensure that bright but needy students did not miss out on opportunities to join their schools of choice because of financial constraints.

The former governor had said such students were being forced to join local day schools despite their good performance, as their opportunities to join boarding schools were taken by students with rich guardians. 

However, Governor Irungu Kang’ata has said the expansion of the programme to include KCSE candidates enrolling in universities and day school students, will ensure it reaches more learners.

He said Sh10 million will be used to ensure students join universities this year.

At Ithanga Secondary School in Gatanga, the governor awarded teachers who performed best in KCSE and the school for being the most improved.

“This school, despite being in a semi-arid area, produced seven students who attained university enrolment points,” he said.

“Karega Secondary School in Kigumo, also a day school, has managed to send over 50 students to universities.”

Kang’ata also visited Ndaka-ini Secondary School in Gatanga.

He said some students get demotivated when they join day schools and doubt their ability to perform in the institutions.

“They can also perform well and join universities. Learners need to know efforts do matter. Even those who fail to join boarding schools over financial constraints can still excel,” the governor said.

He said the scholarship programme is only complementing bursaries issued under NG-CDF as secondary education is not a function of county governments.

The county also has plans to start a feeding programme in Early Childhood Development Centres that will provide pupils with porridge.

The plan, the governor said, will be piloted in about two weeks.

Gatanga MP Edward Muriu lauded the governor for supporting day schools and those who excelled in KCSE.

“We want more professionals from the county. This is a good step and will motivate learners to perform better,” Muriu said.

The MP announced plans to meet all 40 secondary school principals from his constituency to come up with a plan for the distribution of bursaries.

“I promised parents that they will no longer have to trouble themselves looking for bursaries. The teachers will give me a list of their students and I will be writing each school a cheque with students’ names,” he said.

“Ithanga Secondary School has about 320 students. We will be writing a cheque for more than Sh3.5 million so that parents can only pay minimal fees and students will not have to be sent home.”

The MP said this will enable teachers to better plan their schools’ operations knowing that the local NG-CDF will be giving them funds at a given time annually.

He clarified that NG-CDF is still operational and that the law nullified by the Supreme Court was the NG-CDF Act 2013.

But lawmakers enacted another law, NG-CDF Act 2015, which Muriu said was able to deal with the issues raised in the petition.

“This is the law that is operational and people should be assured that the fund is still in force,” he said.

Edited by Kiilu Damaris