THE management of Government Secondary School, Bako, in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has introduced a dedicated scholarship scheme for 35 indigent and orphaned students as part of deliberate efforts to curb school dropouts and early marriages.

Principal of the school, Ibrahim Paisa, disclosed this during a youth sensitisation and peace building visit by the Change a Child Community Initiative, an NGO led by its founder, Blessing Awamba.

Paisa said that the scholarship package heavily prioritises female students to boost girl-child education, revealing that about 25 of the 35 beneficiaries are brilliant indigent girls.

According to him, “The essence of giving 35 students scholarship is that these students are within the indigent and orphan category. The majority out of this 35, about 25 of them are female students, brilliant and indigent students.

“We need to encourage female education because there is one adage, educating a girl is educating a nation. So we came out with that policy to consider female child for scholarship to avoid drop out and early marriage,” Paisa explained.

Commending in the NGO’s outreach theme ‘Change a Child, change a community, change the world’, the principal noted that the programme will foster peace-building, strengthen civic consciousness, and reinforce the school’s existing environmental and community empowerment clubs.

Similarly, Vice Principal of Government Secondary School, Kwali, Mr Majin Uma, lauded the initiative during a separate leg of the tour, stressing that cultivating patience, proper education, and meritocracy remains vital to achieving lasting societal peace and youth development. (The Guardian)