A delegation from Mandera county is in Istanbul, Turkey, to finalise university admission ffor the top 15 girls in the KCSE exam.
The students will receive full scholarships to pursue their university education.Late last year, Governor Ali Roba said the students would be funded by the county. This is part of an affirmative action programme geared towards improving girls' education in courses dominated by boys such as Engineering, Architecture, Quantity Surveying, and Medicine.
Education executive Izzudin Abdullahi, Governor's wife Hodhan Ibrahim, Chief Officer for Devolved Unit Yusuf Dido and communications director Habiba Ali are part of the delegation.
They visited universities in the capital city to negotiate with their officials and establish, among other things, the most suitable study environment. The institutions have strict selection criteria.
The county is also seeking partnership programmes. So far, the county has signed an MoU with Üsküdar University to jointly work on educational and cultural initiatives. This will be followed by a visit to more universities over the next few days for a similar mission.
Local institutions such as Mandera Technical Training Institute will benefit from the programme. The institute has 320 learners. Roba said his administration has invested heavily in the institute to empower the youth in line with his manifesto of expanding it into a world-class university of science and technology.
In 2014, the county established the Bursary Fund Board to support bright students. So far, it has distributed 300 million to 49,700 beneficiaries.
Beneficiaries include those in secondary schools, teachers training colleges and technical training institutes.
"We need to stay committed to our individual and collective roles to turn around the education sector in our county, which is showing signs of recovery, despite constant insecurity challenges,” Roba said.
He said his administration will improve access to equitable, quality and relevant education at all levels, including technical and vocational training centres.
