Nyamira and Keroka Branches of Equity Bank have awarded 28 2019 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) students an education scholarship dubbed Wings to Fly.
Speaking during the flagging off ceremony of the students who qualified for the Scholarships on Monday in Nyamira town, Robert Abere, the Nyamira Branch Equity Bank Manager said though the selection exercise was rigorous in selecting 14 out of the 300 applicants they ensured the exercise was fair and just to ensure that the most deserving students qualified.
“Immediately the KCPE results were released we started receiving applicants for pupils who had the minimum cut off mark of 350 and I want to commend the community Scholarship selection board for doing a commendable job within record time to select needy and deserving students from the numerous applicants,” he said.
Abere said the scholarship is a comprehensive one which caters for both the school fees, shopping, upkeep, and even fare for the four year the students will be undertaking their secondary school education.
“Nyamira County was not among the counties allowed to select students for Elimu scholarship funded by the ministry of education and channeled through equity bank though two sub counties from neighbouring Kisii County Nyamache and Maarani got the opportunity because of the poverty index of those regions,” the manager clarified.
Sidney Mecha who scored 391 marks from Bisamm Academy and will be joining Kanga High School was very excited when he was told that he had qualified for the scholarship because the parents who earn their living from odd manual jobs had opted to take him to a nearby secondary day school which had had made him very depressed.
“I promise to work hard in my secondary school studies and ensure I perform even better to improve the life of our home,” Sidney told KNA.
The Nyamira Equity Bank Branch Manager said they were given more slots this year compared to last year when they only selected 8 pupils but this year the two branches in Nyamira were given 14 slots each and were optimistic that as more well-wishers join them they will be able to increase the number of beneficiaries selected in the coming years.
Zablon Onchiri, Ag. Nyamira County Secretary who was also present in the event congratulated all those candidates who had been selected for the scholarship and challenged them to work hard in the various secondary schools they will be joining next month and bring good results at the end of the four years to proof they were worth the scholarship.
“I’m calling upon well-wishers, corporate organizations in the region, officials of the County Development Fund (CDF) kitty, and our county government to assist in issuing bursaries to deserving students who never managed to be selected by wings to fly scholarship to ensure such students also join their dream secondary schools and pursue their secondary education which is a key enabler in achieving their dream careers to transform their lives and that of the community they live in,” Onchana appealed.
“The 2020 class of wings to fly scholarship programme from Nyamira will be travelling to Nairobi tomorrow in preparation for the official commissioning of all those who have been selected Countrywide on Friday at Kenyatta University,” the manager confirmed.
By Deborah Bochere
