By Nicholas Anyuor, @MigoriNews
Migori County’s pioneer group of the Governor’s Scholarship programme has produced 104 students who will proceed to universities after scoring the required entry grades.
The sponsorship that began in 2015, had its first cohort, a total of 148 students write their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations this year.
According to the results released by Governor Okoth Obado, six students did not manage to complete the course due to various reasons that included securing double sponsorship and early pregnancies.
“155 students started the programme in Form One in 2015. But six of them could not complete the course for various reasons including having got double sponsorship and two who are out of school due to pregnancy. We hope they will resume and complete their studies,” Obado said.
In the results released yesterday by the Governor, eleven students scored mean grade of A (minus), twenty-five B (plus), twenty-seven had B (plain), twenty-three B (minus), eighteen C (plus), thirteen C (plain), twelve students scored grade C (minus), ten managed D (plus) while four scored D (plain).
“We selected, through transparent vetting, the needy students who scored not less than 350 marks. They all went to good institutions; some national schools. I am happy that some have performed well but I am also disappointed with some who went to the national schools but still scored grade Ds,” the County boss said.
County Executive Committee (CEC) member in charge of Education, Samson Maginda said the results posted indicated good performance for the start and urged those in the programme to work harder for better results.
“The online results received indicate a normal curve with a pass of 73.7 percent. This will inform the future planning of the programme. We have also identified some loopholes that we shall seal for the students’ improved performance,” he said.
One of the beneficiaries, Octovin Odiwuor Ogweyo, from North Kadem Ward in Nyatike Sub County, scored 375 marks and went to St Joseph’s Rapogi High School where he scored a mean grade of A (minus).
“I am delighted. This is the best programme for us. It is a blessing to those who come from needy backgrounds and we appeal to our people to give governor maximum support to ensure this programme accommodates more students,” he said.
The governor’s scholarship is a programme that was initiated by Governor Okoth Obado in 2015 to cater for needy children who score not less than 350 marks in the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examinations.
Every year, the project picks five students from every ward in the 40 wards, giving a total of 200 students accross the county.
“We are launching the intake of 2019 lot this week. This will give us a continuous total of more than 750 students every year. We are spending not more than Sh80 million annually for this programme for Forms One, Two, Three and Four students,” the governor said.
