KCB Foundation has given scholarships to 1,000 needy students who sat for the 2022 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examinations to join various secondary schools countrywide.
This follows the completion of a nationwide exercise to identify deserving students from vulnerable and marginalized families, with 100 slots allocated to Persons with Disabilities and 50% to girls.
The Foundation has set aside KShs.100 million for the scholarship programme which will go to paying tuition fees for the four years of secondary school and paying for uniforms, transport, set books, regular mentorship sessions and psychosocial support.
KCB Group Director, Marketing and Communications Rosalind Gichuru said: “Education is one of the pillars of our social impact agenda. It is one of the ways through which an individual can improve their quality of life and access opportunities. We therefore seek out academically gifted but needy learners and embark on a journey with them through this scholarship programme. We do this by going beyond paying tuition fees to providing mentorship and later, apprenticeship at our branches.”
Ms Gichuru said the Foundation’s focus is on learners who are vulnerable because or marginalization, difficulties arising from orphanhood, disability or harmful cultural practices as well as gender or disability.
“We are keen on going all the way with the students who receive the scholarship so that by the time they enter the world of work, they are prepared and equipped with the skills and experience needed to make it in a quickly-evolving world,” she added.
For this cohort, KCB Foundation received more than 10,000 applications, the highest since the programme’s inception in 2007. The 2023 class will form the 16th cohort of the scholar’s programme, including the 1,962 students currently in school.
Beginning with last year’s class, all the high school beneficiaries who sit the KCSE examination receive 100% school-fees support through tertiary scholarships.
The revamped KCB Foundation education scholarship programme is also a pathway to employment. Starting with the 2022 class, beneficiaries go for 3-month apprenticeships at KCB branches across the country after the release of the results of the KCSE.