Questions are being raised about the status of the Elimu Scholarship Programme (ESP) amid concerns that the government may not have a budget for the initiative.

The programme is expected to benefit 9,000 needy and vulnerable students who sat the 2021 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exam.

Reports indicate that despite learners reporting to Form One next week, the government is yet to make a call for applications for deserving candidates.

Although Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha has issued a directive that  learners should apply for consideration for the ESP, the process is yet to officially kick off.

“I urge needy candidates from urban informal settlements, rural and marginalised areas as well as those from ASAL regions to apply for consideration of the award of these scholarships,” said the CS when he released the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exam results on Saturday.

The delay has caused anxiety among parents who had pegged their hope on the scholarship programme.

“Nothing has been done yet since the government does not have a direct budget for the programme. It has to look for resources from well wishers and organisations to sponsor the learners,” explained a senior education official yesterday.

“The call for applications has not been made and the money may not be available at this point,” added the official.

Full scholarship

The official said the call for applications is normally made immediately after the KCPE  examination results are announced so that vetting of applicants before they join secondary school.

Other institutions which offer scholarships to bright but needy students include Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), Equity’s Wings to Fly programme, the Jomo Kenyatta Foundation, Co-operative Bank and Family Bank.

Students can also secure scholarships from their National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) kitty and county government bursary kitties.

Yesterday, Bungoma Governor Wycliffe Wangamati issued scholarships to 7,000 needy students, raising the number to 10,650 beneficiaries since its inception in 2018.

In the last two years, the government has awarded full secondary school scholarships to 18,000 needy  students for the entire secondary education.

If the scholarships are granted, the 2021 KCPE candidates will be third batch of 9,000 scholarships to be awarded.

The 2020 KCPE class was the second cohort. Beneficiaries are selected from public primary schools.

Last year, the programme covered vulnerable learners who attained 280 marks and above in the 2020 KCPE exams.

According to the Ministry of Education, ESP was rolled out in January 2020 to benefit two cohorts of vulnerable and needy children who sat the 2019 KCPE exams from public primary schools in 110 sub-counties as per the National Government Administrative areas that existed in 2015.

Following the presidential directive, the scope was widened to include vulnerable and needy children from the 15 urban centres with informal settlements.

Out of the 9,000 beneficiaries, 75 per cent were allocated to the learners from the targeted sub-counties while 25 per cent to learners from informal settlements.

The programme was implemented under the Ministry’s Kenya Secondary Education Quality improvement Project, which seeks to improve retention in upper primary school and transition to secondary school of poor and vulnerable students.

“One of the interventions earmarked to improve transition from primary to secondary education, is the scholarship, mentorship, social support and gender sensitisation programme,” reads the ESP concept paper.

The Ministry identified Equity Group Foundation (EGF) as the Partner Agency to design and support Implementation of the scholarship, mentorship, social support and gender sensitisation programme, in accordance with requirements in SEQIP’s Project Appraisal Document (PAD).

The concept paper also states that the Ministry and EGF advertised and a total of 37,928 applications were received last year.

The package under ESP for each beneficiary entails full school fees for the entire secondary school education in public secondary school.

It also caters for school uniform, learning materials and personal effects for the entire period of secondary school, transport to and from school during school opening, mid-term breaks and closing and pocket money at Sh500 per term.