Mandera County parents received a boost after Governor Mohamed Adan Khalif on Monday, January 16, pumped Ksh350 million as a bursary fund to all 59 public Secondary schools in the county.
While releasing the bursary funds, the governor revealed that the initiative would cover over 22,000 students in the county.
The release of the funds appeared to be a fulfilment of one of Governor Khalif's campaign pledges towards the education sector in the county.
“Investment in the education sector and the devolution of services to the lowest levels are among my key campaign pledges during the past election. Today we are gathered here to fulfil our promise to the people of Mandera,” Khalif noted.
Khalif was applauded by Kenyans for the gesture to the needy students in his county considering that Mandera is one of the counties worst-hit by drought.
Mohamed Wehliye, a Kenyan and senior advisor to the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority commended the initiative, especially during the ravaging drought in the county.
"This rare gesture from Northern Kenya leadership is absolutely a commendable job. This will surely lift many people out of poverty and make them more productive and prosperous," he noted.
According to a study by the Global Out of School Children Initiative over 3.5 million children in Kenya will be out of school when schools reopen for the first term on January 23.
Most of these dropouts are expected to come from the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) counties of Mandera, Garissa, Wajir, Turkana and Marsabit.
In fact, Mandera county is expected to have the highest number of school dropouts of 295,470 children aged between four and seventeen years old, followed by Garissa with 289,410,
Wajir is expected to have 266,540 school children drop out while Turkana and Marsabit counties expect bout 253,640 and 107,600 students to drop out respectively.
The move by the County government is therefore considered to be the best news to come out of the region at a time when drought has hit the parents hard as it is expected to uplift the lives of the residents.
