At least 22,000 needy students in secondary schools will receive Sh30,000 each to cater for their fees.

The government has disbursed Sh400 million to vulnerable students under the Presidential Secondary School Bursary Programme.

Public Service Cabinet Secretary Prof Margaret Kobia said the monies will be disbursed at the constituency level with each receiving Sh1.3 million for onward disbursement to needy students in their areas of representation  for the 2021/22 Financial Year.

“Presidential secondary school bursary for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) is a flagship project under Vision 2030 that was established  in 2013 as a complementary programme for OVC cash transfer programme,” said Kobia in a statement yesterday. 

“The aim of the bursary scheme is to enhance secondary school access, enrolment, attendance and completion by OVCs,” she added.

Kobia revealed that the ministry has disbursed funds for two other programmes targeting the vulnerable groups.

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In total, some Sh8.9 billion has been disbursed to cover the presidential secondary school bursary, Inua Jamii and Nutrition Improvements Through Cash and Health Education (NICHE).

Inua Jamii Programme, which has about 1.1 million beneficiaries, received Sh8.5 billion while NICHE got Sh13 million.

The Inua Jamii programme targets OVC, older persons and Persons with Severe Disabilities, who have already been enrolled and their accounts submitted to the consolidated cash transfer management information system. 

For NICHE, the Sh13 million will cover 339,151 beneficiaries in the complementary programme.

“NICHE is a Government project that aims at investing in the scale up of existing nutrition sensitive safety nets and testing customised economic inclusion models – as a complement to the regular cash transfers,” explained Kobia.

Programme targets households with children under two years and pregnant or lactating mothers already enrolled in the Inua Jamii Programme.

 The 339,151 households will benefit from the NICHE payment depending on the number of children in the complementary programme in Kitui, Kilifi, Marsabit, Turkana and West Pokot.

Kobia said the funds have been credited to the accounts of the 1.1 million Inua Jamii beneficiaries with payment expected from yesterday.

“Beneficiaries will receive Sh8,000 being payment for months of July, August, September and October, 2021.

Beneficiaries or caregivers can access all or part of this payment at any time over a six-month period,” she said.

Beneficiaries are also advised to use their mobile banking platforms to prevent crowding at pay points.