Bungoma governor Wycliffe Wangamati has doled out scholarship worth Sh40 million to support bright and needy students in both national and extra county schools.
The program, which is in its second year, saw at least eight students in each of the County’s 45 wards benefit. The scholarship scheme is part of governor Wangamati’s initiative to ensure no child from the County misses out on their school of choice on account of fees.
Explaining the criteria used to pick the qualified students, the county Education CEC Betty Mayeku said priority was given to orphans and students whose parents were evidently needy.
“The vetting was undertaken at the ward level where bright students who had scored at least 350 marks and above were identified and their level of need and vulnerability assessed impartially by our vetting panel,” she explained.
The county government also conducted a fresh vetting process to continuing students after a public outcry that some of the students who benefited last year were not needy. The fresh process saw 23 students dropped for ineligibility.
“From the last year’s group, we have awarded a scholarship to 400 students after dropping 23 students for ineligibility. We also identified some 42 students whose performance was not good and we have since cautioned them” said Dr. Mayeku.
Each student in boarding County schools receives a minimum of Sh10, 000 and Sh5, 000 for feeding programme to those in day schools.
Speaking during the event, the governor promised to further institute annual mentorship programs through which all scholarship beneficiaries will be taken through character building, leadership and life skills.
He also called on the community and other stakeholders to partner with the county government to ensure more students benefit from the scholarship scheme.
“Let us work together towards helping our students attain education, I want to invite everybody to come on board and help in the facilitation of this program so that we can have more students benefit.” He said.