An initiative by Kilifi North Member of Parliament (MP) Owen Baya to improve education standards in Kilifi has enabled the enrolment of over 500 students from poor families to secondary schools in Kilifi County.

The initiative involved the opening of two new secondary schools where students who missed scholarships and could not access secondary school education due to lack of school fees got the chance to proceed with their education.

The Gede Mixed Secondary school, one of the schools opened in January this year accommodated 400 students who had given up on education, marking a significant achievement in his efforts to enhance access to education for young people in Kilifi.

Speaking during the issuance of a 2 Million bursary cheque at the school, the MP said the initiative aimed to address the challenge of low secondary school enrolment rates in the constituency adding that many students in Kilifi County are facing barriers to accessing secondary education due to financial constraints faced by parents.

‘
Gede mixed school has been in our dreams as a rescue center for students whose parents are needy. So we decided that all students in this area to come and join this school and we will raise funds for them and pay their school fees’, he said

‘If we do not give a hand to these children and help fund their education, they will not access education. We have a very bright student here who got 385 marks and he was stuck at home because of lacking school fees but today he got a chance to join school’, he added.

Baya emphasized the importance of education in empowering youth and driving socio-economic development in the region saying he will mobilize resources including lobbying for funds from the government to remove obstacles hindering students’ access to secondary education.

He disclosed that he will facilitate the construction of more classrooms to accommodate more students who have dropped out of school due to a lack of school fees.

Parents and guardians led by Zainab Mohamed expressed their gratitude for th
e opportunity provided to their children saying they have struggled to afford secondary education in vain but they have hope for a better future as their children will complete school.

Mohamed disclosed that since her husband was diagnosed with diabetes, they have not been able to raise school fees for their 3 secondary school children. He thanked the leader’s efforts saying her children have finally joined school which is a dream come true

A similar school, the Children of Rising Sun Secondary located in Kilifi North Sub County has accommodated over 100 needy students, providing access to education without fee demands.

The MP’s initiative has come in hand with efforts by the County Government of Kilifi led by Governor Gideon Mung’aro which provided 2000 secondary school education full scholarships to bright students from poor families while bringing on board partners to provide more support.

Source: Kenya News Agency

Higher Education, Training and Innovation Minister, Itah Kandjii-Murangi has said the development of professional and technical human resources, research, science, technology and innovation infrastructure is the cornerstone of the transformation of the Namibian economy.

Kandjii-Murangi made the remarks during a high-level tertiary education funding budget review dinner held in the capital on Thursday.

She said while almost half of the world’s population is made up of young people it is also evident in Namibia, where the youth constitute 60 per cent of the population, adding that it is for this reason that special attention has to be paid to engaging and imparting the requisite skills to the youth.

‘Young people are the future leaders, in a globalised and interconnected world, modern development theories tell us that innovative human capital is our competitive leverage, thus they are valuable assets and trustees of our posterity. They are, like everybody else, custodians of sustainable development, a role f
or which they should and must be prepared,’ she said.

The minister noted that in the last few years, access to higher education and the diversity of programme offerings at universities have expanded significantly, citing that due to the increase in student numbers, it is imperative to increase the provision of state-of-the-art infrastructure and facilities.

However, one of the strategies that institutions of higher learning can adopt to cater for large numbers of students from ordinary and advanced subsidy school level is to consider introducing bridging programmes, she suggested.

Kandjii-Murangi said her ministry is cognisant of the fact that Namibia has gone through a challenging period characterised by droughts, economic difficulties and the COVID-19 pandemic.

This has impacted Namibians’ ability to enrol their children at higher education institutions and in turn put pressure on the Namibia Student Financial Assistance Fund (NSFAF) in terms of demand for financial support.

In the year 2022, the numbe
r of students receiving financial assistance from NSFAF stood at nearly 15 000 at a cost of N.dollars 1.6 billion, while in 2023 that number grew to approximately 22 000 at a cost of N.dollars 2.1 billion.

The current budget allocation to NSFAF is N.dollars 2.3 billion which represents an increase of N.dollars 200 million from the 2022/2023 budget, she concluded.

The review was held under the theme ‘Funding modalities in the Age of AI, Emerging Sectors, 4IR and 5IR’.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency