The process of identifying and vetting students who will benefit from the Elimu scholarship Programme in Nyeri County has kicked off.
Elimu Scholarship Programme is a government project that ensures needy students who scored 250 marks and above in Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams especially from informal settlements are able to join high school.
The project is being conducted by the Equity bank. According to the Nyeri Equity Bank upper branch manager George Maina, the government allowed the bank to run the programme owing to its transparency and success with the Wings to Fly Scholarship selection process.
Speaking to KNA at the Nyeri Central Deputy County Commissioner offices, Maina said the process of selecting the most deserving students to benefit from the scholarship had officially begun adding that this year, Nyeri had been allocated 105 slots compared to last year where they only picked 64 students.
The vetting committee has already done the shortlisting of the applicants. Maina said that they would be conducting interviews between May 11 and May 12. The final stage will be visiting the applicant’s homes to determine the most deserving cases before the applicant qualifies for the scholarship.
“We received 300 applicants for this programme. We did a shortlisting after a thorough check on the application forms and we managed to get to 155. We are currently conducting interviews which will go for two days. We shall then conduct home visits and evaluate the situation of the prospective beneficiaries. Our aim is to fill the number of slots we have been allocated,” Maina said.
Maina said the students would be drawn from four sub-counties and one informal settlement in Nyeri town.
“The beneficiaries’ slots are divided as follows; Nyeri Central Informal Settlement will have 68, Nyeri Central Sub-County will have 11, Kieni East and Kieni West Sub-counties will have nine and 11 slots respectively and Tetu Sub County will get six slots,” Maina added.
Maina has said the process would be fast tracked and that those who qualify would join their respective schools by latest May 17.
He said the scholarship would cater for the four years’ school fees, shopping money, stipend for pocket money, and any other expense that would come up during the whole four year period the students would be in school.
Speaking at the same function, the Nyeri Central Deputy County Commissioner Joseph Mwangi said though there were minor delays in implementing this year’s Elimu Scholarship Programme enrollment, and the government is passionate about seeing the programme’s success
“The government through the Ministry of Education supports this programme. The Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha has promised to visit us and oversee the progress to ensure that the selection process is fairly done just like last year,” Mwangi said.
Joseph Nderitu, one of the applicants is hopeful that lady luck would locate him and secure a chance in the programme. Nderitu scored 342 marks and was selected to join Giakanja Boys High school but due to financial problems, he has not yet joined his dream school. Nderitu says if sponsored, he would work hard and become an engineer in future and help those in need in the society.
Nderitu’s mother, Naomi Watetu who had escorted her son to for the interview, says that she couldn’t afford to take her son to form one owing to hard economic times and the burden she has with the other children. She says that she is hopeful that her son would secure the scholarship.
