By Andanje Wakhungu
School principals within Malava Sub County have every reason to smile after the constituency development fund (NG-CDF) released the much-awaited bursary worth Ksh.45Million at a ceremony held at the CDF offices and presided over by Malava MP Malulu Injendi. He applauded the efforts the principals had put in schools to ensure that learning continued despite the delay in the disbursement of funds
“We received our first barge of funds in January and it was only Ksh.10Million, we found it hard to disburse to schools as it was not enough and we decided to wait for the remaining amount which took time to materialize, it has taken some time and I know that most of these principals have had a rough time managing school affairs. As we give out these cheques today with many schools closing in a week’s time, let them give parents some ample time to look for school fees, this should push schools for at least three weeks after opening before they can start asking parents for money”.
The MP said the funds have not been enough as more new applicants are recorded each year. “We have zeroed in on issuing Ksh.2,000 (lowest) to 5,000(highest) so that we can assist as many applicants as possible, it is not the allocation per child that matters but the cumulative amount a school will get if it has many applicants and we call on schools to encourage their parents to apply for the bursary. The MP however took offence with the political temperatures being peddled against bursary allocation that has seen some schools failing to apply for the same with some leaders inciting parents against applying, terming the sum given as too little (Ksh.2,000).
“I’m concerned with some schools that have dropped in their applications and I have learned that some local politics has taken centre stage where parents are convinced not to apply and this has also had an adverse effect on our education standards in the sub county where the same people have been announcing that the sub county was number last in the county when in really sense it was position 7 out of 13, let us stop this cheap political propaganda in our education system and instead embrace what our principals are doing in producing more university entry students year in year out.”
He further called on the local administration to defend school managers from public outbursts at funerals and public gatherings by his political foes who are determined to tarnish his good academic reputation. “Let both our principals and local administration work hand in hand and if any of these people stand up in funerals and stand ridiculing our teachers and you as an administrator you are around kindly take charge and call the principals to come and give the true version of the story so that we avoid what we have been seeing of parents and the public attacking and ejecting teachers from their stations over performance and pother school related issues.”
Injendi also took time to applaud the principals Malava Boys John Simiyu and her Malava girls counterpart Rose Abuko for their persistence in uplifting their schools to adorable academic heights with many students from the two schools prospering well at the university.
“Our education standards has been good and as we speak we have four new secondary schools within which are also part of the bursary beneficiaries and we will continue supporting the schools to grow” The Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association (KESSHA) Kakamega North sub-county chairperson Rose Abuko lauded the continued support the CDF office and the MP were giving schools within and urged for the cooperation continues to the betterment of the learner.
The Shamberere National Polytechnic principal Elisha Nyamu who was the greatest beneficiary of the allocation with Ksh.2.2Million assured the parents and principals that the institution had now been gazetted as a national polytechnic and hence there should be no doubt whatsoever from the quarters.
The presidents through the Kenya Gazette notice order number 10 of March 2024 have elevated and gazette 11 Polytechnic including Shamberere to be a national institution and we want you to enroll your girls and boys here for technical training The fund manager Collins Obuya confirmed that a total of 11,000 applicants benefitted from the exercise with the highest school getting Ksh. 1.9 million and the least with only two applicants receiving Ksh.4, 000.
“Our bursary allocation was Ksh. (45,700,000) where secondary schools got Ksh.27, 460,000 as colleges and universities were awarded Ksh. 16,490,000 as special needs got Ksh.1, 750,000 and it is worth noting that the giant amount went to schools and colleges within the sub county totaling to Ksh.22Million”.
The manager urged the parents to bank the cheques and issue receipts of the same before displaying the list of beneficiaries at their various schools’ notice boards for the sake of transparency.
