Wings to Fly beneficiaries now picked

 By Githinji Mwangi, Robert Ochoro, Clement Kamau and KNA

It was a sigh of relief for some of the needy students who received their Wings to Fly scholarship yesterday, giving  them an opportunity to continue with their education.

In Kirinyaga, 42 needy students received their scholarship to become part of the 16,000 who have so far benefited from the initiative sponsored by Equity Group, MasterCard and the German government.

Equity Bank Kerugoya branch manager Simon Kanyingi said the beneficiaries would undergo a two-week seminar in Nairobi before being taken to their respective schools.

Some 16 beneficiaries were selected out of 250 applications submitted in Thika, and 16 other in Nyeri while 12 others were picked in Kisii with  branch manager Robinson Mirieri raising concern over rampant cases of cheating by parents to get scholarships.

Expand classrooms

Elsewhere, Limuru MP Peter Mwathi urged the government to consider establishing an infrastructure fund to help expand classrooms and dormitories in secondary schools across the country.

Speaking at the Limuru Equity Bank grounds yesterday during the 2020 Wings to Fly  ceremony where eight needy students got scholarship,  Mwathi said most secondary schools in the country are congested, overstretched and overwhelmed by the high number of students, making learning a nightmare.

And separately, Equity Group’s managing director Dr James Mwangi has lauded students who registered exemplary performance in last year’s Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exam.