By Our Reporter
Co-operative Bank education scholarships have benefited 7,583 needy students since inception.
This year the bank has sponsored 655 students from across the country to join the Co-operative Bank Foundation Scholarship Scheme.The program is fully funded by the Bank to the tune of Sh155 million every year.Of the 655 new scholarships to Form One students, 420 were identified by the bank’s Regional Delegates’ Forums and the remaining 235 scholarships, at 5 per county, awarded by County Governments in all the 47 counties, the bank’s Group Managing Director and CEO Dr Gideon Muriuki has said.
Additionally, the bank is educating a total of 177 students, selected from the top performing beneficiaries of the secondary school scholarships, through their entire university education.
Following this year 2020 intake, the Co-operative Bank will have provided full education sponsorship to 7,640 deserving Kenyans, of whom 7,332 will have gone through secondary education and 308 university studies.
The scholarships are awarded on merit to gifted but needy students from all regions of Kenya.
Dr Muriuki said, “Our scholarship beneficiaries 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. At the bank’s head office, our role is to process payments to the schools and monitor the students’ performance through the four years in secondary school.The top 28 in the Form Four examination each year are granted an additional full scholarship for their university education.”
Co-operative Bank provides full school fees scholarships for the entire four years of secondary education. University scholarships are awarded to the best performing students from each region.The scholarship program was launched in 2007.
