Let’s domicile bursary funds in institutions

The impact of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) on communities is enormous. It has, to a large extent, responded to the constitutional obligation that sets out basic education up to secondary school.

Although primary education is compulsory, it is not free and even public schools have extra charges that are beyond ordinary Kenyan, hence the need to review the funding of our learning institutions.

CDF was a bright idea but its being anchored in law is a matter in court. This fund, under the patronage of MPs, has however been abused by politicians—for instance, to reward their supporters at the detriment of those who merit to benefit from it but happen to hold a divergent opinion during the elections. There has also been lack of public education on CDF, especially regarding the provision of bursaries, hence the ever-skewed distribution.

I suggest that CDF bursary be channelled directly to schools within the respective constituency and its management done through parents/teachers associations (PTA), school boards of management (BoM) and the local leadership. Local leaders, such as the locational chief and the Nyumba Kumi committee, are better placed to, identifying the neediest cases to benefit from the bursary allocation.

At the school level, teachers, who have the students’ background, can ensure that needy cases are not left out. The amount allocated to individual students should not be equal but on a need basis.

Universal basic education

For the full realisation of universal basic education, especially to the neediest and most vulnerable, there need be a proper mechanism in place to ensure that the beneficiaries of the CDF bursary are seen through school. CDF should offer continuous and not one-off support at the whims of politicians only interested in high numbers of beneficiaries, which translates to votes in subsequent elections.

There have been claims of double or multiple allocation of bursaries to some students, where a student benefits from different funds or colludes with school management to defraud the fund. The names of such fraudsters should be made public and shared with the relevant authorities for deterrent action.

Students who have benefited from other sources should let others get the CDF bursary, thereby enhancing equity. The school management, through head teachers, PTAs and BoG, should be the custodian of the information, which must be made available on request by government agencies for audit and scrutiny.

It is said that education is the best equaliser when it comes to development. I suggest that the counties that lag behind in terms of basic education for their populace be given more help and support so as to realise a just and equal society. And in the words of Nelson Mandela, let us use education for the vulnerable in our society as a powerful weapon with which to change the world.

Mr Ochieng’ is a Second Dan Black Belt karate instructor. ochiprime2gmail.com.