Kwara State Government, through its Education Trust Fund, on Wednesday awarded full secondary school scholarships to 12 outstanding pupils from public schools in the state.
Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, who spoke during an orientation programme for the beneficiaries in Ilorin, said the initiative was designed to reward merit and ensure that children from humble backgrounds with exceptional academic records get opportunities to pursue their dreams.
He explained that the scheme was borne out of the reality that the government alone cannot fully shoulder the cost of funding education, urging wealthy individuals, philanthropists, and foundations to support the Trust Fund by adopting brilliant students or contributing to public school infrastructure.
“Education belongs to all of us. It is our business. But over the years, we have seen that governments alone can’t fully fund education.
“What you have seen here today is a model where some students were selected through a rigorous and transparent process to benefit from scholarship,” the governor said in a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Rafiu Ajakaye.
AbdulRazaq, who described the inaugural beneficiaries as products of integrity and resilience, pledged that the government would continue to support the ETF and track the progress of the awardees through university.
In her remarks, the Executive Secretary of the ETF, Oluwadamilola Amolegbe, said the 12 winners emerged from an initial pool of 640 pupils, shortlisted from primary six candidates who had participated in the state’s digital literacy programme, KwaraLEARN.
She explained that after sitting for the National Common Entrance Examination, the top performers were pruned down to 36 before the final 12 were selected based on merit and spread across the local government areas.
She explained that after sitting for the National Common Entrance Examination, the top performers were pruned down to 36 before the final 12 were selected based on merit and spread across the local government areas.
The Programme Manager, Zainab Abdulsalam, stressed that the scholarships were part of a long-term strategy to build human capital in Kwara.
“We intend to track them, monitor their performances, and ensure the investments in KwaraLEARN and ETF translate to tangible outcomes,” she said.
One of the parents, Mr Maxwell Kolawole from Ekiti Local Government, hailed the gesture as a relief for poor households, saying: “This is truly a pro-masses initiative. The government has taken off my burden of paying school fees and other expenses.”
The ETF, established by law in 2021 and run under a board of trustees drawn largely from the private sector and community groups, has continued to attract support from philanthropists and organisations since its inception.
Kwara State has, in recent years, invested heavily in education reforms aimed at tackling learning poverty and improving opportunities for pupils in public schools.
One of its flagship initiatives, KwaraLEARN (Leading Education Achievement and Reform Now), launched in 2022, introduced digital learning tools and teacher-support systems across classrooms to boost literacy and numeracy outcomes.
