Kwale County Assembly Speaker roots for upgrade in bursary program

Ruwa noted that before devolution in 2013, Kwale County had very few graduate professionals but the Elimu Ni Sasa Education Bursary Programme has upscaled the number to thousands of various graduates in blue-chip professions like medicine, architecture, engineering and other specialised fields.

Ruwa who was speaking to the media in Kwale during a tour of schools at St. Angelo Nursery and Primary School in Ukunda to monitor education progress expressed the need to up-scale the amount of money allocated to the Ward Bursary Fund from Ksh 20 million currently to Ksh 40 Million in order to expose more learners in the hitherto marginalized and poverty-stricken county.

The Speaker also expressed the need to revamp the county economy, the education sector in particular by ensuring increased financial allocations to education programs at the ward levels in order to sustainably improve education standards across the county.

He said there was a need to put Kwale on the national map as an epicentre of serious and highly educated professionals in the entire Coast region and probably among top-ranking elite counties in the country.

The Speaker said there is need to ring-fence the ongoing ELIMU NI SASA education program to ensure that it is transformed into a sustainably improved outfit to embrace more bright and needy students to fully benefit from it annually.

“This is a program that is seriously incubating serious doctors, geologists, engineers, lawyers etc through an airlift program initiated by outgoing Governor Salim Mvurya”, said Ruwa.

He expressed the need to leverage on the gains made by the Programme by investing in serious infrastructure that “accommodates these great minds, these are achievements we ought to celebrate”.

62,000 students in county schools have since benefited from the ELimu Ni Sasa Bursary Program which commenced in 2016. 5,300 more beneficiaries are currently in national schools while 3,300 in Universities with several in technical institutions e.g. TVETs, according to the county government data.

Douglas Chaka, currently a lawyer in Kwale who operates in Kilifi is among beneficiaries of the Kwale Bursaries program through the popular Governor’s Airlifting Program.

The Governor’s Airlifting Program has seen more than 200 students get education scholarships to travel abroad for higher education in Universities across Asia and Europe.

Chaka went to India where he graduated later and came back to practice law in Kwale and Kilifi Counties.

He described the Speaker as one of the pioneers of the County Assembly Bill which approved the creation of the Ward Bursary Fund and supported the financing of the county education scholarship programs including the Elimu ni Sasa and Governor’s Airlifting Program.

Kwale County Assembly Majority Leader Mr Dawa who tabled the scholarship motion in the County assembly said the Scholarship programs give children from low-income families the chance to attend a school of their choice to pursue their education goals.

Wilfred Omae,Chairman of  St. Angelo Nursery and Primary School in Ukunda lauded the ELimu Ni Sasa Bursary Program which commenced in 2016 saying students in his school have been benefiting from the programme.

Kwale is the only county in the country that managed to approve for the establishment of such a Ward Bursary Fund through a Bill passed in the County Assembly in 2016