276 300
220 students from needy backgrounds are set to join form one following the sponsorship from the Tufuzu na Elimu programme by The Family Group Foundation which set aside KES 40 million on scholarships for students joining high school this year.
The scholarships, to students from 14 priority counties, will cater for both tuition and upkeep. These counties include Bomet, Bungoma, Kisumu, Kajiado, Kiambu, Laikipia, Mombasa, Meru, Muranga, Makueni, Nyeri, Nakuru, Nyandarua and Uasin Gishu.
Speaking during the students’ commissioning in Nairobi, Family Bank CEO Rebecca Mbithi reinforced the Bank’s commitment to positively transforming communities.
“Every year we reiterate our commitment to supporting bright but needy students’ access to quality education. As a Bank, we are happy to support the public sector achieve 100 per cent transitioning of students to high school,” she said.
The Ministry of Education reported that the 1.2 million children who sat the KCPE exams in March will transit to secondary schools in line with the 100 per cent transition plan. However, However, in the past four years, nearly 200,000 pupils who have sat for the KCPE examinations have failed to proceed to secondary schools mostly due to poverty-related reasons.
“Year on year we have continued to increase the number of beneficiaries for this program. This year, as a Foundation we received 10,000 applicants from students seeking high school scholarships, a clear demonstration of the increasing number of students in need,” said The Family Group Foundation Board Chairman Dr. Francis Muraya.
“We are committed to continue transforming lives through provision of quality education and we are confident that the lives we impact will positively impact the society in the future,” he concluded.
The scholarship programme has seen the Foundation invest over KES 200 million in the education sector through scholarships to over 800 students.
The commissioning comes as the form 1 intake is set to begin on May 4th 2022.