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{
"id": 1476575,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1476575/?format=api",
"text_counter": 126,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Uriri, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Mark Nyamita",
"speaker": null,
"content": "process. In some cases, the deserving students are left out, while others benefit from multiple sources. This disparity, without a doubt, needs to be addressed. To enhance efficiency and accountability, the current bursary schemes are often hampered by inefficiencies, especially in the disbursement of funds. Students and their families frequently experience delays, leaving them struggling to pay for essential educational needs such as school fees, uniforms and textbooks. These delays contribute to the rising dropout rates, particularly in secondary schools, where students are forced to leave school due to financial constraints. This Motion calls for a centralised approach that will streamline the management of the bursaries. One unified system will ensure timely and efficient disbursement of funds, enhance accountability, minimise administrative delays, and make the process more transparent. It seeks to address the comprehensive coverage of education costs. Another key point that this Motion addresses is insufficient coverage of education costs under the current bursary schemes. Many students receive partial funding that does not fully cover their educational expenses, forcing families to make up the difference. This places an undue financial burden on families, especially those in low-income areas, and contributes to higher dropout rates. The consolidation of bursary funds, as proposed, will allow better allocation of resources, ensuring that the funds provided are adequate to meet the full spectrum of education-related costs. This will alleviate the financial pressure on households and help retain more students in school until they complete their basic education. What is the Government's role in free basic education? The current system of bursaries, while well-intentioned, has not fully achieved this goal. As the Mover rightly noted, the fragmentation of bursary schemes leads to overlaps, duplications and inefficiencies, which in turn make it difficult for the Government to fulfil its obligations. By collapsing all these bursaries into one scheme and remitting the funds directly to schools, the Government will be in a much stronger position to provide free and compulsory basic education to all children. This will ensure that the right to education is not only a promise on paper but also a reality for every child in Kenya. I consider this to be the first move towards the realisation of free education, which we all desire. I am sure all my colleagues will support this Motion so that all our students can access free education. For example, in my constituency, I get about 21,000 applications for bursary, and only about 9,000 of them benefit partially from it. They get between Ksh5,000 and Ksh10,000 and sometimes Ksh15,000. The ones who go to the scholarship programme are very few. I have 9,000 beneficiaries because I try to balance to ensure that I have one beneficiary in at least every household. However, it is such a small amount for low-income families. It is not adequate. In conclusion, this Motion presents a transformative step towards improving access to quality education in our country. The challenges of inequity, inefficiency and insufficient funding can no longer be ignored. By adopting this Motion, we will consolidate our efforts to provide a fair, transparent and effective system of support for all students, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds. I fully support the proposal to collapse the bursary schemes into a single centralised fund to be directly remitted to schools. It is only by taking such a bold and decisive step that we can ensure the full realisation of every child's right to education and make Kenya a truly equitable and prosperous nation. If we collapse all the bursary schemes into one, the rider is that we are proposing to do this as a first step towards offering real free primary, secondary and even tertiary education to all our students. The reason Members of Parliament continue to champion that bursaries be administered through NG-CDF is to address the gap that many students were missing out on. If we can consolidate them and the Government agrees that we should move towards free provision of basic education, it will be a step in the right direction. I also want to take this The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}