Some 1000 beneficiaries of the Wings to Fly scholarship programme were on Friday commissioned to begin studies in various secondary schools across the country.
The funding is awarded annually to bright KCPE candidates from poor backgrounds who score 350 marks and above.
The 2019 cohort brings to 16,168 the number of beneficiaries since the launch of the programme in 2010.
It is sponsored by Equity Bank and Mastercard foundation.
Speaking during the commissioning at Kenyatta University, Education CS Amina Mohammed asked the scholars to make the best of the opportunity and help those in similar situations in future.
“Please don’t be complacent. Do your best and aim to conquer and scale the heights to great success,” she said.
“Every generation owes a debt to the next. We are paying our debt now, you will have to pay your debt in a few years to come,” she added.
Since inception 10,084 students have cleared secondary education, 8,062 of whom have since joined universities while 2,022 are in TVET.
Other than education, beneficiaries are also mentored in leadership.
Equity Group CEO James Mwangi said there has been a 100 per cent transition from school to work for all the beneficiaries.
“We can talk of complete transition as all of them are employed. Those who miss opportunities (elsewhere) come back to Equity,” he said.
Maxwell Omondi from Muhoroni said he aspires to be a lawyer after his secondary education.
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He scored 385 marks and was selected to join Kisumu Boys high school.
“I promise to turn page after page until I become a lawyer. Not just a lawyer who knows of nolle prosequi, pro bono, or even amicus curiae but a lawyer who is not corrupt,” he said.
Augustine Barasa from Busia County (404 marks) will join Kapsabet Boys High school and wants to be a neurosurgeon.
“I won’t stop until I become a neurosurgeon. I know it’s possible,” he said.
Sarah Pilot, a girl who was abandoned in a sewer in Kibera as a toddler wants to live up to the name she was given by her rescuers at Bridge of Hope Educational Centre by becoming a pilot.
She scored 376 marks and is set to join Alliance Girls.
“I must rewrite my history for I must come out like (the Biblical) Moses. I will establish a children’s home of my own for I have wings to fly,” she said.
Mwangi said: “Four years are very short. Don’t go and get carried away and lose sight of your vision. Focus on delivery of your dream.”
Mwangi and Amina pledged to work together to scale future admissions to 3,000 annually.