Bursaries
Kiambu County Senator Karungo Thangw’a has criticized the methods used in bursary allocation and disbursement across various counties in the country.
Speaking before the senate during a sitting focused on discussing the consolidation of bursaries, the Senator requested for clarification on the funding process from the Education Cabinet Secretary Mr. Julius Migos Ogamba. “What is the number of beneficiaries. It is important we move forward with transparency and accountability and we are just asking the CS to answer,” Thangw`a said.
In his inquiry, the senator had requested that the Education CS provides detailed statistics on the total bursary funding allocated at both the County and National levels over the past three years, along with a breakdown of fund disbursement per county.
Senator Thangw’a also sought to know whether the government maintains records of all bursary beneficiaries and the mechanism for tracking this information. He also requested that the Cabinet Secretary outlines the measures the government uses to monitor bursaries allocated by various government agencies and clarify the mechanism for this monitoring, specifically detailing how the funds are disbursed after the allocation.
The CS defended the Ministry, noting that it has a limited role in overseeing bursary allocation and disbursement. “Bursaries are provided through the framework of the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) and the County Governments. The Ministry of education is not involved in the processes at both levels,” he said.
The CS further highlighted that the Ministry does not maintain records of the allocated funds per individual, including names and other relevant details related to disbursement and instead, the records are kept by the respective ward representatives and governors in the case of counties.
Ogamba acknowledged that the Ministry does not have any legal or administrative mechanism for monitoring the bursaries allocated to the CDF or County Governments or even a method for evaluating bursaries after they are disbursed to the constituencies and counties.
The CS also noted that the challenges related to the management of bursaries and scholarships were identified by the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms and following their recommendations, a coordinated framework for scholarships and bursaries across all levels of education was proposed.
Two bills have been developed and one of them seeks to establish a Scholarships and Bursaries Fund to coordinate and administer scholarships and bursaries in basic education. The council is to provide oversight to the governors in the counties and maintain a database for the administration and coordination of scholarships in Kenya.