Contrary to popular belief that Strathmore School is a rich-man’s school, the school has an active and efficient bursary scheme that has seen many orphans and students with ability but little financial muscle to make it through. Strathmore has two schemes through which its well-wishers donate funds to aid needy students. In the first scheme, money can be donated to the Bursary Fund and utilized in full in the year in which it is donated. The second scheme involves setting up an Endowment Fund usually named after the donor or in memory of a person of their choice. The school invests the Endowment fund money and, in agreement with the donor, allocates some of the interest earned every year to bursaries and reinvests the rest of the interest to make the fund grow.
Approximately 15% of students at Strathmore School are on bursary.
In 2019, the school awarded Kenya Shillings 15 million in bursaries, to 90 needy students compared to Kenya Shillings 255,000 in 1991. Unfortunately, the bursary figure has not always been matched by an equal amount of donations from parents, past students, companies and well-wishers. In fact the school has in the last 15 years found herself digging deep into her coffers and sometimes withholding funds meant for other projects due to the rising need for bursaries.
We appeal to well wishers to sponsor a student in the school and support the scheme.
ENDOWMENT FUNDS
Over the years, the school’s benefactors have started 98 endowment funds whose total capital value now stands at Kenya Shillings 130,748,873.
The first Endowment Fund was started in 1994 by Mr. and Mrs. Gajree in memory of their son, Jawahar.
Jawahar Gajree, an alumnus of Strathmore School (1982- 1993), died in a car crash in 1993 while on a short holiday in Kenya.
There are several Endowment Funds started by former staff members and their families e.g. the Mr. Stephen de la Bedoyere Family Fund, the Dr. Branya Fund, Ada Drakard Fund and the Santiago Eguidazu Memorial Fund. Mr. Stephen de la Bedoyere was the Class teacher of the pioneer Std 1 group in 1986, and now lives in United Kingdom. Dr. Branya is the late father of John Branya, who served as Principal of Strathmore School from 1984 to 1995.
A number of past students have also started Endowment Funds e.g. Dr. Deepak Bedi, Mr. Jos Konzolo and Mr. Kenneth Mwangi.
Another alumnus, Ives Mascarenhas, recently started an Endowment Fund in memory of his parents, Geoffrey and Idinha.
The Form 4 class of 1995 started the Nkonge-Majani Memorial Fund in honor of their late classmates. In 2012 alone, members of this class contributed over Kshs 800,000 towards the fund. Other groups that have set up Endowment Funds include the Form 6 classes of 1984, 1986 and 1989, and the Form 4 class of 2001.
The Belinda de Souza Endowment Fund was launched in July 2013 as an initiative of the Strathmore School Choir. Belinda is the mother of Kevin de Souza, an alumnus of Strathmore School. Members of the choir sung at Belinda’s funeral Mass on 25 June 2013. Her life was an inspiration to them and they felt that her memory should always be honored by starting an Endowment Fund in her name.
The Terry Ochieng Endowment Fund was launched by Keith Ochieng (Form 4 1996 class) in memory of his younger brother, Terry, also an alumnus of Strathmore School.
Members of the Form 4 class of 1999 started the Clive Kibwage Endowment Fund in honor of their classmate Dr.Clive Kibwage, who passed away in June 2013.
Over the years, several past students have contributed regularly to the more general Past Students Endowment Fund. In 2015 alone, they contributed over Kshs 274,000 to this fund. Many of them contribute monthly via bank standing orders.
IN EACH OF THE CASES ABOVE, THE DONOR SHOULD SEND AN EMAIL CONFIRMING THE BENEFICIARY AND DETAILS OF THE PAYMENT ITSELF TO: gwandera@strathmore.ac.ke