BY
ADOW JUBAT
Garissa Governor Nathif Jama has launched an ambitious 35
million shilling scholarship program to support bright students handicapped from pursuing education to an employable level by poor family backgrounds.
Speaking at Garissa town during the officiating of
the life leasing program, that targets in ensuring to address amicably the prevailing crunch in local man
power needed to run the County operations in the long term, Governor Jama said
students pursuing essential courses will be given priority so that they could achieve their professional dreams.
“As a County government we want to invest heavily in
promoting human resources through the support of the brighter children from disadvantage
families with scholarship in a bid to make them becoming useful agents to their
community”, He said.
Among the first batch of the beneficiaries are 57
medicine students, 60 students doing engineering. Others are 33 students seeking
essential careers such as teaching, nursing and life skill trainings.
The County chief noted that, despite the
North-Eastern region harboring adequate talented youth who could join important courses such as teaching, medicine, engineering among others many has been shunning undertaking the said courses due to exorbitant fees charged considering that
many parents from the region were poor.
He said, the scholarship drive is aimed at ensuring
that by the end of 10 years, scarcity of essential man power will be a think
of the past in the County noting that the recent boycott by non local teachers to serving in
the region over “insecurity” issues has served as a wake-up call for the local
people and leadership to think in reinvest in their youth.
Governor Jama who said the boycott of teachers to
resume serving in the North-Eastern region has made children suffer revealed
that governors from the region were planning to petition the national
government to devolve education.
“We want the national government to consider our proposal
of having education management devolved in our respective counties to solve crisis
brought about by teachers boycott. Our proposal over the same is now with the Council
of Governors”, He said explained.
He said council of governors will forward their request to have education devolved on a pilot phase to the governor‘s summit chaired by the President Uhuru Kenyatta for deliberation and execution.
“We want the devolution of education into the counties level particularly on our region urgently to undo the ongoing crisis put to us due to management of education from national level. We want to disassociate the running of our education from the incitements of people like KNUT Secretary general Wilson Sossion”, He noted.
Jama said challenges faced by education in northern region are similar and unique and it requires to be addressed differently by the concerned Counties who understand where the remedy to reverse the situation lies.
“We cannot allow our children to be held ransom by few individuals with ulterior motives of continued marginalization and discrimination against our people. As leaders we want to leadership responsibilities in providing urgent solution through such proposals,” He added.
“We are disadvantage in terms of education and it’s extremely unacceptable and unfair for someone to deny our children their right to education and that is why were demanding to take charge in running the sector immediately,” he said.
Teachers from Northeastern have kept away from their classrooms after more than 60 people including their colleagues were massacred in cold blood late last year; they have boycotted work citing insecurity and a threat to their lives.
The governor said the launching of scholarship program is second major undertaking by his administration after recent recruitment of 170 ECD teachers.
“This idea of sponsoring students especially who are doing medicine and engineering careers is to encourage our local people to pursue these profession because they few in the county,” said Jama.
On his part, County Executive for finance Abdihakim Dayib said the county administrations will double the scholarship program in the next financial year to 70 million shillings.
He said council of governors will forward their request to have education devolved on a pilot phase to the governor‘s summit chaired by the President Uhuru Kenyatta for deliberation and execution.
“We want the devolution of education into the counties level particularly on our region urgently to undo the ongoing crisis put to us due to management of education from national level. We want to disassociate the running of our education from the incitements of people like KNUT Secretary general Wilson Sossion”, He noted.
Jama said challenges faced by education in northern region are similar and unique and it requires to be addressed differently by the concerned Counties who understand where the remedy to reverse the situation lies.
“We cannot allow our children to be held ransom by few individuals with ulterior motives of continued marginalization and discrimination against our people. As leaders we want to leadership responsibilities in providing urgent solution through such proposals,” He added.
“We are disadvantage in terms of education and it’s extremely unacceptable and unfair for someone to deny our children their right to education and that is why were demanding to take charge in running the sector immediately,” he said.
Teachers from Northeastern have kept away from their classrooms after more than 60 people including their colleagues were massacred in cold blood late last year; they have boycotted work citing insecurity and a threat to their lives.
The governor said the launching of scholarship program is second major undertaking by his administration after recent recruitment of 170 ECD teachers.
“This idea of sponsoring students especially who are doing medicine and engineering careers is to encourage our local people to pursue these profession because they few in the county,” said Jama.
On his part, County Executive for finance Abdihakim Dayib said the county administrations will double the scholarship program in the next financial year to 70 million shillings.
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