More students from vulnerable families in Uasin Gishu County will this year benefit from the bursary kitty.
This is after the Uasin Gishu County Executive and the County Assembly reached an agreement to re-allocate some of the already budgeted for funds supporting the students.
In the previous financial years, Ksh90 million had been set aside for the bursary under which each Ward was allocated Ksh3 million.
However, after approval of a supplementary budget for the funds, the bursary allocation was increased to Ksh124 million, which means each ward will get Ksh3.8 million, an extra Ksh800,000.
Speaking at the County Headquarters in Eldoret town when presiding over the disbursement of the funds, Governor Jackson Mandago said the increase in allocation was informed by the Covid-19 effects on many parents.
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“With the pandemic, many businesses were affected, some lost their jobs and there was a cash flow disruption. As a government, together with MCAs, we saw it fit to increase the budget kitty so that no student fails to continue with studies for lack of finances,” Mandago said.
The bursary is used to finance the education of needy students in secondary schools, Technical Vocational Education Training (TVET) institutions, and universities.
This year, over 19,674 students will benefit from the financial support from the county.
In the past 9 years, over 136,756 stunts have received financial support for their education under the county bursary kitty.
And Mandago has affirmed that his administration will continue supporting the youths to further their education and gain the skills required for them to be competitive in the current job market.
On his part, Deputy Governor Daniel Chemno who spoke at the same event expressed the need for locals to diversify their income-generating activities to reduce pressure on the bursary kitty.
He said the kitty cannot be enough for all, hence the need for those able to engage in diversified farming to do so, which would in term enable them to be financially independent.
“Whatever we are giving may not be enough but for farmers, we can plant high-value crops and in the near future, we will only focus on the needy when sharing out the bursary,” Chemno said.
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The County Government of Uasin Gishu has been advising farmers to venture into high-value crops that it believes have higher returns than maize farming.
Some of the crops the county wants farmers to plant include coffee, avocado, macadamia, and tissue bananas.
