Kenya: The Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) Foundation has increased its scholarship scheme by Sh20 million to Sh78 million to finance more needy pupils to join secondary school this year.
Rachel Gathoni, the foundation’s manager, said a total of 238 academically gifted pupils from poor backgrounds who sat the 2014 KCPE exams would benefit from the initiative.
The beneficiaries will be identified through interviews, which will be conducted on January 24 across the country.
“Under the programme this year, we will not only support needy students, but also students with disabilities, and we have set aside 38 slots for them,” Ms Gathoni said.
The scholarships are for pupils joining public national or provincial secondary schools.
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Overall performance
Since the programme — which pays for tuition, school uniforms and stationery for students — was started in 2011, Gathoni said more than 600 students have benefited.
The Government last week announced that out of 880,486 candidates who sat KCPE last year, 687,000 are expected to join Form One. However, a large percentage of this number are unable to transition to secondary school because of a lack of school fees and money for upkeep. The KCB Foundation scholarship programme was set up to support bright students who find themselves in this situation.
In each of the country’s 47 counties, a cut-off point for the scholarship has been set based on the region’s overall KCPE performance. This ensures students from counties that performed poorly still have a chance to benefit.
Parents interested in the programme can visit any KCB branch and obtain details on the selection criteria and pick an application form.
