State announces 9,000 Form One scholarships
Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha (left) confers with Equity Group Foundation Executive Chairman James Mwangi during the 12th Annual Regional Educational and Leadership Conference for Wings to Fly and Elimu Scholarship Beneficiaries on April 14, 2022 at Pangani Girls High School.
The Ministry of Education has announced 9,000 Elimu Fund scholarships for needy learners across the country.
The scholarships will benefit students joining Form One next week. Those eligible to apply must have attained 280 marks and above in the 2021 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCSE) examination.
While making the announcement on Saturday, the ministry said that in awarding the scholarships, affirmative action will also be applied — which will ensure orphans and those with special needs and disabilities benefit.
“Only candidates who sat the 2021 KCPE examinations from public primary schools in all 47 counties in the country are eligible,” the statement said.
The Ministry said those eligible must be candidates with special needs and disabilities such as physical hearing and visual impairments, autism, albinism, learning disabilities, among other special needs.
Vulnerable children
Orphans and vulnerable children and candidates from informal settlements in 15 urban centres will also be considered for the scholarships.
Also eligible are students whose parents and guardians are living with disabilities that have compromised their ability to meet the financial obligations of their children and whose families are affected by HIV/Aids and other chronic illnesses with debilitating effects that could render parents and guardians destitute and unable to fend for their families.
Others are students whose families are affected by extreme poverty rendering them unable to educate their children and those who have suffered from neglect, abuse and have no support to continue with their education.
Students are required to apply by May 6.
“The scholarship caters for school fees, transport to and from school, school kit and a stipend for the beneficiaries for the four year education period,” the statement read.
Form Ones are scheduled to start reporting to their respective schools from May 4.
Over the weekend, parents have been moving up and down preparing their children to report while others have been trying to change schools for their children.
Asked for bribes
Currently, a number of principals have switched off their mobile phones to evade parents’ calls as some parents complain of being asked for bribes by some school heads to get vacancies in their schools.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education has also launched the registration of candidates for the 2022 national examinations and assessment set to be administered in November to December 2022.
The exercise, which started last week, will close on May 14.
Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha said the examinations to be registered for are Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA), Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE), Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations and the KCSE Qualifying Test.
He said the registration of candidates will be done online by head teachers. Head teachers were asked to provide correct information on learners with special needs during the registration of candidates.
“Involvement of parents and guardians during the verification of KPSEA and KCPE candidates is also important. School heads should capture the names of the candidates correctly as they will be used in other examinations,” said Prof Magoha.
He asked head teachers and sub-county directors of education to ensure accuracy of the correct name of the candidates as per the birth certificate, gender, year of birth, citizenship and subjects entered.
