An NGO, the Morgan Smart Development Foundation has awarded scholarship to 17 indigent but intelligent students in JSS and SS Classes drawn from public schools in Delta State.
Speaking in Warri at the 3rd scholarship award ceremony of the Foundation, the President of Morgan Smart Development Foundation (MSDF), Dr. Omawumi Evelyn Urhobo recalled that when the Foundation was established over 10 years ago, one of its primary objective was to give scholarship to intelligent but indigent children to help their parents meet their financial requirements to enable them access qualitative education to compete favorably with children from rich homes anywhere in the world.
According to her, the passion to give scholarship to children from poor homes was borne out of her personal experience as her father died when she was just about nine years old and with a young mother who had to struggle to put her and a younger sister through school.
She said getting a scholarship to complete her secondary and university education was a big relieve to her mother adding that the scholarship made it possible for her to acquire the education that made her what she is today.
The scholarship scheme of MSDF, she revealed, started three years ago, saying that; “And with the granting of this award to the 17 new beneficiaries, a total number of 47 students are presently under the sponsorship of the foundation.”
Dr. Evelyn Urhobo said she had always seen education as life itself that education makes everything possible, including giving the child from a poor home the privilege to rise up to look straight in the eyes of the child from the rich home in any endeavour of life.
She stated that MSDF endowed a scholarship fund with One Million Naira last year and solicited for donation from spirited individuals, to enable the Foundation expand the scope of the award both in terms of increasing the scholarship award sum itself and to extend the award to undergraduates in the University.
Dr. Evelyn Urhobo said, “The Fund has received some donations from persons of goodwill for which we are very grateful. The responds has however been very poor. We are hereby calling for sponsorship of a students at #20,000 per school year and to sponsor as many students that a person can afford, to enable the Foundation grow the number of beneficiaries to 100 students within the next 2 years. A sponsor will be given the name of the child being sponsored and will have the opportunity to mentor and become a role model for the child.”
The Chairman of the occasion, Dr. (Mrs.) Evelyn M.A. Dudu, Director, Library Services, P.T.I. Effurun in her opening speech lauded the efforts of the Foundation in providing scholarship to indigent but intelligent students in the state.
