Nairobi County will on Monday 26th July commission a total of 1283 Wings to Fly and Elimu scholarship beneficiaries. The commissioned batch will form the 12th Wings to Fly and the 2nd Elimu Scholarship class respectively.
In total, 10,705 academically promising scholars from humble backgrounds who sat the 2020 KCPE exams have officially been commissioned to join the Wings to Fly and Elimu Scholarship Programs. 1,705 scholars of these will be joining the Wings to Fly Program while 9,000 will be joining the Elimu Scholarship program.
Equity Group Foundation received a total of 114,765 scholarship applications for the program, 60,880 applications for the Wings to Fly Program and 53,885 applications for the Elimu Scholarship Program.
The two scholarship programs offer comprehensive scholarships which cover the scholars’ tuition, books, uniform, transport costs and pocket money for the four-year high school period.
The 2021 Wings to Fly scholarships have been funded by Equity Group, Mastercard Foundation and the German Government through KfW. The Elimu Scholarship Program is supported by the World Bank-funded Secondary Education Quality Improvement Project (SEQIP) and implemented by Equity Group.
Throughout their secondary school education, the scholars will also benefit from mentorship and leadership development to equip them with life skills that will transform them into impactful leaders in the society.
The 2021 scholarships were awarded by the local Community Scholarship Selection Boards (CSSBs) for the Wings to Fly Scholarships and the Community Scholarship Advisory Board (CSAC) for Elimu scholarships. The Selection Boards comprise of eleven to thirteen members and are chaired by the Sub-County Director of Education with support and coordination from the Equity branches.
During the school closures last year occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, EGF with financial support from Mastercard Foundation facilitated all 13,790 Wings to Fly and Elimu scholarship beneficiaries with a solar powered radio that has a lamp and a phone charging port. These devices enabled the students to tune in to the KICD radio broadcast lessons and keep pace with their academics.
The scholars and an additional 817 students drawn from our TVET cohort also benefitted from a monthly stipend of Ksh. 4,000 for girls and Ksh. 3,500 for boys. This stipend was aimed at ensuring they could afford the necessities and keep them out of societal vices. The facilitation totaled Ksh. 428,376,430 and was complemented with weekly mentorship sessions.