Ndola City Council (NCC) has handed over skills development bursaries worth K3.7 Million to 901 youths under the Bwana Mkubwa Constituency Development Fund.
Speaking during the cheque handover in Twashuka Ward, Bwana Mkubwa Member of Parliament Warren Mwambazi said 16 pupils have been sponsored to boarding schools at a cost of 16 Thousand Kwacha.
Mr. Mwambazi urged beneficiaries of the skills development to take their tertiary education seriously.
He said constituency development fund was uplifting people’s lives in constituencies.
“I wish to express my gratitude to the organisers of this event for ensuring that we are all here together to be part of this wonderful occasion. Today we handed over K16,000 to schools for boarding fees for 16 pupils from Bwana Mkubwa constituency. I wish to once again thank the government for the free education that has enabled our pupils to learn without paying any fees. We are privileged, as constituencies, to pay boarding fees only for our pupils in boarding schools as tuition fees have been handled by the government. This is a huge relief. Today, we are also handing over cheques worth K3, 774, 280.00 for our 901 students who successfully applied for skills development bursaries. The total amount we are handing over today is K3,790,280.00 (three million, seven hundred and ninety thousand, two hundred and eighty kwacha),” Mr. Mwambazi said.
“These funds are aimed at providing our youths with skills to enable them to grab opportunities to earn an income and be educated.CDF is at work and we can all see it. It is even more exciting to know that the 2023 CDF has expanded further to K28.3 million. This means more bursaries for our pupils and students. Bursaries are key for development as they provide a chance to families that cannot afford to pay tuition fees to be educated. I wish to thank the mayor of Ndola, councillors and the Ndola city council management and staff for the work they are doing in implementing the CDF.I am also grateful to the CDF committee for the job well done.
I wish to remind the recipients of these bursaries that this is an opportunity that should not be wasted. It is an opportunity to change the story of our lives and our communities. For the training institutions, this is an opportunity to procure training materials in good time as the tuition fees are paid at once,” the Bwana Mkubwa lawmaker said.
Meanwhile, Ndola Mayor Jones Kalyati called for the prudent utilisation of the increased CDF allocation.
“I am very happy as your mayor to witness the handover of constituency development funds to secondary schools and training centres. I wish to congratulate the constituency development fund committee and in particular, the area member of parliament, Hon. Mwambazi for successfully completing this important task. This is yet another milestone achieved under Bwana Mkubwa also wish to congratulate the students for successfully applying for cdf bursaries. For the secondary schools and training institutions at which these students have been enrolled, congratulations to you as well. I am happy that one of the benefitting training centres is Mushili skills training centre, a council run institute,” Mr. Kalyati said.
“I am grateful to the Bwana Mkubwa cdf committee for recognising our training institution as one of the best centres for students to gain skills. The council has a number of training centres which are Mushili, Chifubu, Kabushi and Mine Masala. These centres are community focussed and so the fees are minimal and subsidised by the council. It is therefore important that they are supported through various ways including sponsorship of students. I therefore urge the committee to continue considering students at Mushili skills centre. A huge congratulations to you all, students as well as institutions. Take this opportunity seriously and as a city, we will achieve great things,” Mr. Kalyati said.
