The Nyamira government will start issuing bursaries after the county assembly adopted a regulation that will be forwarded to the Controller of Budget for approval, County Secretary Erick Onchana has confirmed.
This comes after months of intensive consultations among the county executives and other stakeholders in the education sector.
Speaking to this writer on Wednesday, Onchana said mechanisms have been put in place to ensure the bursaries and loans are implemented in the 2016-17 financial year onward.
“We have finalised on the County Bursary and Loans regulations that will be forwarded to the Controller of Budget for approval. We are optimistic that the regulations will be accepted and subsequent disbursement of funds to the needy students,” he said.
“There shall be a loan oversight committee which will be appointed by the County Executive Member of education and another one at the ward level where the Ward Administrator will be the Secretary with the MCA being part of the team,” he added.
Mr Onchana said the total amount of bursary will be at least 2.5 per cent of the county’s annual budget and we hope that the amount will be sufficient to help the needy and vulnerable people in our society,” he said.
This means that at least Sh150 million from the county’s Sh 5.9 billion budgetary estimates will be diverted to the education sector.