Over 500 students have emerged as beneficiaries of the MTN Foundation Science and Technology Scholarship Awards for the 2010/2011 academic session. The candidates emerged after a rigorous assessment exercise conducted by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) in three zones across the country on Saturday, December 5, 2009.
The scholarship covers tuition and book allowances for one year and the successful candidates will be presented with their awards in batches in a couple of weeks. The first batch of presentations will take place in Enugu State on February 19, the second batch, in Zaria on February 20, and the last batch will be presented with their awards on February 22 in Lagos State.
“Education is pivotal to the growth and development of any nation. This is another contribution of the MTN Foundation to national efforts to ensure that our children who represent the future of this country receive sound education,” said Wale Goodluck, director, MTN Foundation.
According to him, the scholarship will enable many brilliant but indigent students to acquire university education and ultimately realize their dreams. “These scholarships will also encourage our children to take interest in Science and Technology-related courses, which many of our children shy away from.”
Goodluck said the Foundation will sustain the award for any of the awardees who maintains a Grade Point Average of 3.5 or its equivalent throughout his/her entire academic programme.
Expected at the formal ceremonies where the scholarship awards will be presented to the successful candidates are top government officials, including the Minister of Education, Dr Sam Egwu, academia, top officials of MTN Nigeria and MTN Foundation and other important dignitaries.
Other major interventions of the MTN Foundation in the education sector include the SchoolsConnect project, which is providing secondary schools with digital laboratories and training to equip school age children with the necessary ICT skills to function effectively in the emerging digital economy. The project has impacted over 100,000 students and 5,000 teachers in 62 schools across 16 states, including the FCT.
The tertiary version of the project, MTNF UniversitiesConnect Project is helping to bridge the digital divide by providing digital libraries for universities in Nigeria. The project is up and running in Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, University of Lagos (Unilag) and University of Nigeria, Nsukka, while it is billed to take-off shortly in University of Benin (UNIBEN). Others are slated to benefit this year. The foundation has so far invested more than N300 million in the project.
