Butere University And College Students Plead For More Bursaries And Internship Opportunities

• Tertiary education scholars from Butere constituency are concerned that the amounts disbursed as bursaries to fund their education are not enough
• They called on their representative in the National Assembly, Tindi Mwale, to review the bursaries upward
• Besides bursary allocation, the students, through their umbrella body BUCSCBO, also want to be prioritised in internship and job postings both in the constituency and the Kakamega county government

Kakamega - University and college students from Butere constituency, through their umbrella body, BUCSCBO, have called for increased allocation of bursaries.

They also called for fair allocation of attachment and internship opportunities in the constituency and county government.

Students' appeal to Tindi Mwale

The students, through their leaders, Hygynus Abuor, Newton Okubasu and Immaculate Makokha called upon the area MP, Tindi Mwale, to consider increasing the bursary allocation, especially at this time when the government is doing away with the fee subsidies.

“If the bursaries are not increased, students are likely to suffer increased dropouts and protracted learning period,” Abuor stated.

They want Mwale to increase the amount disbursed as bursary, given that the constituency has fewer university and college students compared to others like Lurambi and Mumias West.

“While Butere receives an equal amount of CDF like the other constituencies, it has fewer students in colleges, which means that the allocation rate must be high,” said Okubasu.

The scholars said this during their AGM meeting held on December 28.

Kakamega county secretary and Head of Public Service Lawrence Omuhaka, who graced the event, commended the students for coming up with a body to champion their welfare.

Omuhaka stressed the county government's commitment to linking the students to attachment and internship opportunities within the county in line with their areas of speciality.

“We want to ensure that students from Kakamega County do not undergo a lot of strain while looking for attachment and internship opportunities," he said.

The county secretary further urged the continuing scholars to focus on skill development that would place them on top of the competition as they wade through the prevalent unemployment crisis.

While promising to support the student body by funding some of their projects, which would empower them socioeconomically, Omuhaka encouraged them to utilise the dynamic digital spaces to grow themselves.

This came as students acquainted themselves with the current mode of government sponsorship.

New university education funding model

The national government made changes to the model of funding university students' education away from the traditional sponsorship based on merit.

As per the new model, taxpayers will not fund those meeting the threshold to undertake tertiary education, as had been the norm.

Degree programmes are reserved for those who scored C+(plus) and above in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination.

With the new model, candidates would have to apply for government aid and loans to fund their education.

Those qualified for the grant are directed to make applications through www.hef.co.ke.

The applications would be yearly throughout the course undertaken by a beneficiary.