By Daniels Ekugo
Twenty-one students of Premium Technical High School, Warri, Delta State of Nigeria, have been awarded the 2021 Education Scholarship Award, facilitated by Stallion Empowerment Initiative (SEI), the charity arm of Stallion Group.
The award ceremony was held on Friday at a felicitation ceremony involving a gathering of students. The awards went to the best performing students for the 2020/2021 academic session across various classes.
The SEI Education Scholarship includes Sunil Vaswani Merit Scholarships with 100% full tuition fee waiver for the best student in classes, Primary 6 to Senior Secondary 3. Principal’s Merit Scholarship with 75% tuition waiver for the second-best student and Roy Tabet Merit Scholarship with 50% tuition scholarship for the third-best student.
SEI Educational Scholarship’s inaugural edition was given to the best-performing students of the 2019/2020 academic session, despite the COVID-19, as it was essential to propagate the importance of education during a year of hardship.
Ms Sarina Vaswani, Co-founder of SEI, said the scholarship programme stemmed from the SEI’s belief in building positive prospects for the future generation through investment in human capital, especially education and skills.
“We support the youth to further their education into secondary schools and university. We believe our school programs and support can help prepare students into adulthood.”
According to Ms Vaswani, SEI is working towards building Nigeria as a benchmark in improving the access and opportunities available for young individuals.
“The goal is to improve the attendance rates for schools in the region and encourage every child to attend school in the region.”
SEI supports Premium Technical High School (THS), which comprises 1746 students and two other Premium Primary Schools with a student population of 2000, all in Warri, Delta State.
As a result, according to the Principal of THS, Mr Joseph Sido, the schools can offer qualitative secondary school education for children in the neighbouring communities.
In her words: “The students are imparted with technical training so that they are absorbed in industries like Premium steel or other ancillary industry in that region.”
As it was in 2020, over 50% of this year’s beneficiaries are female, a continuation of the initiative’s support for education of the girl child in Nigeria.
Due to cultural and religious disparities, female literacy continues to be an ongoing challenge in Nigeria, which SEI believes are core challenges society will continue to tackle in the future.
“By creating an open environment for girls to attend schools and supporting them with educational grants and scholarships, SEI sets precedence and propagates gender equality in Nigeria.” Ms Vaswani explained.
SEI’s key focus is to support and scale education, healthcare & driving youth empowerment programs. Stallion Empowerment Initiative is dedicated to road map a journey to a better future.