By Felix Njenga
Kiambu member of Parliament Machua Waithaka has announced that public day secondary school students will not be paying for school fees.
Machua while speaking in Ndumberi stadium in Kiambu during the disbursement of over Sh 60 million bursary funds under ‘Masomo Sure Na Machua Program’ said that the national government constituency development fund (NG-CDF) will cater for school fees of all students in the nine day secondary schools within the constituency.
” No student in Kiambu constituency in day secondary school is paying school fees. If it is possible those parents who have students in boarding school should transfer them to day schools so that they too can enjoy the fruits of what we are doing in the education sector,” Machua said.
He said that the NG-CDF will continue paying bursary funds to boarding schools including universities, colleges and TVETs.
” The first year once we entered office we issued Sh 32.5 million to 7,000 students in bursaries the second year we issued over Sh 52 million to 9,000 students in bursary, this year we have come up with a program where no student will be chased away from school due to lack of school fees as we have paid for all of them,” he said.
He added that he has talked to the day secondary schools teachers not to charge anything for the students including tuition fees and remedial fees.
” I do not want to hear anything like tuition and remedial fees being charged in our day schools as we have paid for everything to keep the students in school,” he said.
He said that they have embarked on comprehensive works of rehabilitating primary schools from changing old rooftops to new ones, putting up tiles in classrooms, putting cabro inside school compound and also putting up perimeter walls and modern school gates.
” We are doing comprehensive works to our schools and now the new outlook is that of academy schools and we have been able to change the environment of our learning institutions and our pupils and students are happy to be in school,” he said.
He said that 1,200 youths were trained in short courses where the national government through NOTA program enrolled 70 youths in every ward in the constituency who are being trained on small and medium enterprises literacy and we be given sh 50,000 for start ups.
He said that 300 boda boda operators have been enrolled for training where NG-CDF has paid sh 5,500 for each and are awaiting to be certified and given licenses with 300 more additional will be trained this year.
He said that the Jitume center set up in Ndumberi village will enrol 150 young men and women to be trained.
Peter Kimani a resident who benefitted with bursary funding for his son and daughter said that they are greatful since the NG-CDF is helping those who are unable to pay school fees.
” Here in Kiambu if a needy parent has over five children who want school fees one needs to apply and all the five students will be given bursary. Everybody who applies for bursary funds is given,” he said.
Lucy Njoki a parent said that the bursary process does not discriminate where while applying all relevant entireties required to fill the forms are found in one place reducing the burden of looking for them to sign.
” Our MP has designed a one stop shop method where chiefs, pastor and other relative people needed to sign for bursary forms are found in one place to reduce the burden to parents of having to find them to sign the forms,” she said.
