Financial hope for Turkana students as county launches Sh534 million fund

The Turkana County government launched a Sh534 million Education Bursary Fund to support needy students. Governor Jeremiah Lomorukai, who unveiled the bursary scheme, stated that the program, established under the Turkana County Education Fund Act (2023), would provide financial support to students in secondary, tertiary institutions, and technical colleges.

During the event, he distributed cheques amounting to Sh191 million to 23,246 students who were beneficiaries of the first allocation of the bursary fund. Lomorukai announced that the program would be digitized to improve efficiency and accessibility for students to apply for the bursary scheme online. He urged high school leavers to pursue technical courses for life skills and self-employment.

Lomorukai also called on bursary committees at the ward level to exercise transparency and prioritize beneficiaries based on need. Turkana Central MP Emathe Namuar appealed to school heads not to chase away students for lack of school fees, emphasizing that the newly launched county education fund, constituency development funds, and the Ministry of Education's capitation funds were sufficient to sustain all needy students from the county. He attributed poor performance in Turkana county schools to students being frequently expelled for lack of school fees. The Turkana County Commissioner warned schools against misappropriation of funds and food distributed under the school feeding program.