No fewer than 60 indigent female students of Community High School Umabor Eha – Alumona, in Nsukka Council Area of Enugu state received scholarship by a non-Governmental organisation (NGO), Women Information Network (WINET).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that WINET collaborated with its foreign partners, Mundo Cooperante of Spain, to award the scholarship.
Presenting the award in Eha-Alumona, on Wednesday, Mrs Miriam Menkiti, Executive Director, WINET, at the school premises, said that the gesture was in furtherance of the NGO’s activities under the ‘Right to be a Girl Project to End Girl Child Marriage’.
Represented by Mrs Chinelo Dim, Monitoring, Evaluation and learning officer of the NGO, Menkiti said the organization was in the school to present the third term scholarship (2022-2023) to 60 female students of the school.
“The project is titled ‘Support for 128 Students Education in Enugu State, Nigeria’ and is funded by Mundo Cooperante of Spain”.
She disclosed that one year academic scholarship was initially awarded to 106 female students of the Community Secondary School, Akpasha and 22 female students of Community Secondary School, Iva Valley.
“As a member of the international coalition of organisations, we are here to support the retention of girls in school for their education.
“We want our girls to be educated; we do not want them to be given out in marriage at a tender age.
“This is the reason we insisted that parents of the selected female students must sign commitment letters that they will not be withdrawn from school for marriage or any purpose during the period of our scholarship.
“We urge parents not to discriminate against the girl child. They should send all girl children to school like the boys,” She said.
Menkiti thanked Mundo Cooperante for supporting the project to retain young girls in school.
She appealed to the benefitting female students to make the best use of the opportunity by studying hard.
In his remarks, the Principal of the school, Mr Martin Ugwuoke, expressed appreciation to WINET and its foreign partners for the kind gesture.
Ugwuoke said that the role WINET had been playing in the defence of Women and the girl-child was worthy of commendation.
He said the gesture would no doubt serve as encouragement and motivating to the benefitting students, whom he admonished to take their studies very seriously as it was the only way they could reciprocate the intervention.
“On behalf of the school management, I want to say a very big thank you to these two organisations for remembering our school.
Responding, on behalf of the beneficiaries, Abigail Ezeguorie, of Junior Secondary 1, lauded WINET and Mundo Cooperante for coming to their financial assistance.
She assured them of their readiness to reciprocate the gesture by taking their studies very seriously and would not take the support for granted.
NAN also reports that aside the payment of the third term school fees running from (2022- 2023), for the benefiting students, they were also presented with assorted educational writing materials.
The materials included notebooks, mathematical sets, and school bags, among other items. (NAN)
