Six hundred and sixty-five needy students who excelled in their Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams are set to benefit from the Co-operative Bank Foundation Scholarship Scheme in 2020.
The bright but needy students will have their full school fees covered for the entire four-year duration of their secondary school education.
This year's beneficiaries were selected at the grassroots level by various co-operative societies in a structure that has existed since the scheme was established in 2007.
"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,” the bank's managing director John Muriuki explained.
In its thirteen years of existence, the scheme has seen at least 7,640 students supported to complete their studies.
The scheme additionally awards university scholarships to beneficiaries who emerge as the best performers from their region in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations.
At the moment, 177 top performers drawn from the beneficiaries are currently in university with their fees fully catered for.
As Co-operative Bank's flagship corporate social investment, the education scholarship scheme is estimated to be worth Ksh155 million per year.
Muriuki reiterated the bank's commitment to supporting needy students, noting that education offered many a way out of poverty.
"Unless corporate institutions and all people of goodwill come together to support initiatives within the education sector, gifted but needy Kenyans will never realise their full potential. Being needy does not mean that one isn't talented or has no potential.
"A large number of Kenyans holding positions of responsibility today were educated with loans from the Co-operative Movement. It is for this reason that the Co-operative Bank, being the premier co-operative institution in Kenya, has taken the lead in this area,” he asserted.
