County Education Bursary & Digital Access Programme

When Governor Cecily Mbarire assumed office in September 2022, she found a county bursary system that was opaque, prone to abuse, and deeply inequitable. Students and parents had to travel to county offices to queue for applications — a burden that disproportionately disadvantaged the poorest families in remote wards. Bursaries were routinely alleged to favour politically connected applicants over genuinely needy students. Mbarire's administration overhauled the system from the ground up. In June 2023, the Governor officially launched the Embu County Bursary & Scholarship Management System — a fully digital platform that allows students to apply from anywhere in the county using a smartphone or computer. "Students can apply wherever they are and don't need to come and queue. That is now a thing of the past," the Governor declared at the launch in Embu town. The new platform introduced ward-level committees tasked with verifying applications and ensuring that awards go to genuinely deserving students. For Financial Year 2023/24, the county disbursed KSh 100 million across all 20 wards — one of the most significant annual education investments in Embu's devolution history. The programme covers secondary school students, those enrolled in Vocational Training Centres (VTCs), and students in tertiary institutions and universities. The digitisation has dramatically reduced leakage, increased transparency, and allowed the county to track disbursements in real time. This initiative directly supports Governor Mbarire's Big Six Agenda pillar of Youth Empowerment, ensuring that no young person in Embu County is denied an education due to poverty.