Some 39 girls in Kilifi who were on the verge of dropping out of school due to lack of school fees have received scholarships.
The girls from St Thomas Girls High School received scholarships from the Wild Wide Fund worth Sh1.1 million.
All the girls are in Form 4 and are due to sit for their KCSE exam next year.
One of the girls, Irene Karembo, had a balance of over Sh100,000 accrued from previous years. She received a scholarship of Sh76,000
Another student, Florence Atieno, had a balance of Sh48,000 and received Sh42,000.
While thanking the fund for the gesture, Karembo said she was worried about completing her studies as the fees arrears was a lot.
“I am being raised by a single parent and we are three children in high school. Even without the Covid-19 disruption, my mother has not been able to fund my education. I sometimes spend over a month at home due to fees. When I go back the highest amount I take to school is Sh2,000 from bursaries which is not enough. I am now certain I will perform well because I do not have to worry about the school fees,” she said.
St Thomas girls principal Eunice Mwaiseghe thanked the organisation for paying the fees.
Mwaiseghe said students had fees arrears of over Sh27 million.
She said most parents are low income earners and funding the education of their children has been a challenge.
“I know the challenge the parents are going through. I have tried my best to keep the girls in school to shield them from sexual exploitation. We appeal for more organisations to come in and help the girls,” she said.
Wild Wide Fund Coastal Kenya manager Asma Awadh said the school has been active in marine cleaning and other environmental programmes initiated by the WWF.
Awadh said the funds is part of the Education for Sustainable Development project by WWF.
“We saw great potential in these girls and recognised their effort. Initially we had planned to give it to only those with good grades but after scrutinising all the 39 applications we received from the school, we decided to give all of them because they were needy and even those who had not done well in their recent exams, we discovered that it was because they had not been in school most of the time,” she said.
The programme is running in coastal counties.
Lamu and Kwale counties are the other beneficiaries of the scholarship fund.
-Edited by SKanyara
