City Hall to award 400 bursaries to national school students

The Nairobi county government is set to award up to 400 bursaries to top performing students from poor backgrounds who get admission to national schools within the city.

Beneficiary students will have all their school fees covered throughout their high school education. The Sh64 million bursary fund was launched last year by County governor Evans Kidero.

The initial group of 300 beneficiaries is currently in its second year of high school.

“The rigorous process of identifying the deserving students is already underway, this is a long term programme intended to transform the lives of bright but poor students,” said the Nairobi County Executive for Education, Youth and ICT Ann Lokidor.

The County government will partner with head teachers within the county to identify the most deserving applicants who have admission letters to national schools but cannot afford to take up their positions due to lack of fees.

Application forms for the bursary will also be available at Nairobi County offices.

“We encourage qualifying students to apply for this life-changing opportunity, the selection process will factor in diversity and gender balance to give all deserving applicants a fair chance of being selected,” said Ms Lokidor.

Ms Lokidor recounted how education uplifted her from a humble background in Turkana County to her current position as a County Executive.
She encouraged especially girls to apply for the County bursary, terming education as a key to determining their destiny.

Successful applicants will also have opportunities to intern in various departments of the County Government during school holidays.

They will form a talent pool that the County could pick in future to fill its human resource needs. The County Government will track their performance at the University and organise team building activities that will help the beneficiaries to network among themselves and with the County staff.

They will also be involved in social work such as voluntary clean-up exercises to serve as role models for their peers.

Ms Lokidor, who previously held the ICT and e-government docket got additional responsibilities in Education, Youth, Sports and Social Services during Governor Kidero’s recent cabinet changes, says she will be taking extensive tours of all City County schools to identify challenges faced by learners.

One of her key focus is to see how ICT can be integrated into Early Childhood Education to give learners a head start in an increasingly digital world.

“Besides offering bursaries what we need is to look at the entire schooling system and see what needs to be changed to suit the needs of a 21st century city,” said Ms Lokidor.