Equity Group Foundation and the Mastercard Foundation have committed KSh206 million to help over 14,600 students in the Wings to Fly and Elimu scholarship programmes access education at home during the Covid-19 pandemic period.
Implemented through the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Programme, secondary school students will each receive a solar-powered device to access lessons on radio and TV stations.
Equity Group CEO, James Mwangi said they wanted the scholars to have an equal opportunity through continued access to their class lessons.
“With many of them coming from financially challenged backgrounds, access to a radio for purposes of following the classroom lessons was going to be a big challenge,” he said.
“These young people are our future and we must not fail them during their hour of need if we want to shape the future we want to see.”
Secondary school Scholars have been provided with a solar-powered device to ensure continued access to their lessons currently being aired on Government-owned radio and TV stations.
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The device contains a radio and a mobile charging unit for cell phones as well as a lamp that can allow studying after dusk. Because each household contains 5-6 students, it is estimated the program will reach 70,000 learners with a curriculum as well as COVID-19 public health messages and advisories. EGF distributed the equipment through the Equity infrastructure of branches and its agency network across the country.
Daniel Hailu, Regional Head, Eastern and Southern Africa at the Mastercard Foundation stated, “Advancing equitable and inclusive access to education remains a top priority for the Foundation. The impact of COVID-19 requires us to be intentional about how we ensure the pandemic doesn’t exacerbate existing gaps in education.”
“ In fact, this is the opportunity to seek out and promote innovative technology-driven solutions to bridge emerging gaps and even leapfrog the capacity and quality of educational delivery across the continent.”
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