Co-op bank to give 655 scholarships to needy Form 1 students
Gideon Muriuki, Co-op Bank group managing director. PHOTO | FILE |
What you need to know:
Of the 655 new scholarships going to incoming Form One students, 420 will be awarded by the bank’s Regional Delegates’ Forums and the remaining 235 scholarships, at 5 per county, will be awarded by the County Governments in all the 47 counties.
Top-tier lender Cooperative Bank has announced that it will be offering 774 scholarships to needy students joining secondary schools and Universities this year.
655 scholarships will go to pupils who completed their primary education while 119 will go to individuals who completed their secondary education but financially constrained to pursue university education.
The programme is funded through the lenders Co-op Foundation Scholarship Scheme that seeks to bridge educational gap. It was launched in the year 2007.
Of the 655 new scholarships going to incoming Form One students, 420 will be awarded by the bank’s Regional Delegates’ Forums and the remaining 235 scholarships, at 5 per county, will be awarded by the County Governments in all the 47 counties.
"Co-operative Bank has one of the most democratic systems of granting scholarships in Kenya. Our students are selected at the grassroots level by Co-operative Societies across the country through a well-established national delegates system. Co-operative Societies, who are the face of Kenya, identify well-performing students from disadvantaged backgrounds and bring these names into a regional forum where delegates debate and select the most deserving cases,” said Cooperative Bank chief executive officer Gideon Muriuki.
"Education is one of the most expensive items in any household budget and yet has the highest potential to liberate people from poverty," explained Mr Muriuki on why the lender founded for the initiative.
"Unless corporate institutions and all people of goodwill come together to support initiatives within the education sector, brilliant but poor Kenyans will never realise their full potential. Being poor does not mean that one isn't bright or has no potential. Majority of Kenyans holding positions of responsibility today were educated with loans from the Co-operative movement,” he added.
Coop Bank now joins Equity Bank and KCB, which announced awards of 2,000 and 200 scholarships respectively to needy but bright students this year.
