Twenty-one students of Premium Technical High School, Warri, Delta State of Nigeria, have received the 2021 education scholarship award, facilitated by Stallion Empowerment Initiative, the charity arm of Stallion Group.

The awards given at a ceremony held last Friday are for the best performing students for the 2020/2021 academic session across various classes.

The SEI Education Scholarship includes Sunil Vaswani Merit Scholarships with 100 per cent full tuition fee waiver for the best student in classes, Primary 6 to Senior Secondary 3; Principal’s Merit Scholarship with 75 per cent tuition waiver for the second-best student and Roy Tabet Merit Scholarship with 50 per cent 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.

Co-founder of SEI, Ms Sarina Vaswani, 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.

She said, “We support the youth to further their education into secondary schools and university. We believe our school programmes and support can help prepare students into adulthood.”

The SEI, according to her, 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,” Ms Vaswani said.

The is said to SEI support Premium Technical High School (THS), which comprises 1,746 students and two other premium primary schools with a student population of 2,000, all in Warri, Delta State.

Principal of THS, Mr Joseph Sido, said with the support, the schools could offer qualitative secondary school education for children in the neighbouring communities.

He said, “The students are imparted with technical training so that they are absorbed in industries like premium steel or other ancillary industry in that region.”

The firm noted that over 50% of this year’s beneficiaries were female, just like 2020, indicating a continuation of the initiative’s support for education of the girl child in Nigeria.

The statement noted, “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.”

It went further to quote Ms Vaswani as saying, “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.”

It also stated that SEI’s key focus had been to support education, healthcare and drive youth empowerment programmes.