Lobbies want agency formed to streamline public bursary schemes
Civil society groups are calling for the establishment of a multi-agency team that will help streamline all public bursary schemes to make them more responsive to the needs of learners.
In a statement to the newsrooms yesterday, presiding convener of Civil Society Reference Group (CSRG) Suba Churchill said despite most cases of vulnerable learners being highlighted by the media, there is lack openness in the manner in which bursaries are awarded at the constituency and county levels.
“It is particularly disturbing that whenever such cases of needy students are highlighted by the media, only private actors and individuals and not a single National Government Constituency Development Committee has ever responded to the appeals for help by the needy students yet each of the affected learners hail from the 290 constituencies in the country.
This raises the question as to which students get awarded bursaries by the Constituency Development Committees and what criteria they apply to arrive at the list of the awardees,” he said.
However, Suba lauded the recent launch of Elimu Scholarship Programme by the National government saying it will help more poor learners to transit to secondary school.
Private actors
“This, together with the support that has always come from private sector actors such as Equity Bank, Jomo Kenyatta Foundation and the Kenya Tea Development Authority (KTDA), are noble initiatives that have the potential to effectively augment government-led interventions if only the public schemes could be made more transparent and accountable,” he said.
County governments have also been setting aside hundreds of millions of shillings towards bursary schemes.
The civil society said there is need to have public participation in the selection process so as to wipe away the widespread claims of nepotism and political favourism that end up hurting genuine learners.
