A South Korea based philanthropist, Mark Elechi says plans have been concluded to sponsor 26 less privileged students for the 2021 West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) in Ebonyi.
Elechi, who hails from Afikpo North Local Government Area (LGA) of the state, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja.
He said that a scholarship examination was conducted for 53 students from the 12 wards of the LGA to select the beneficiaries and 26 candidates were successful.
He said that the purpose of the scholarship was to ensure a better society through education, as the education of the successful candidates would ensure a crime free society.
According to him, the scholarship is in furtherance of our determination to open more school doors in order to close as many prison gates as possible.
“We targeted orphans and the less privileged, with 26 emerging successful out of the 53 people that participated in the transparent and inclusive scholarship exam.
“We did this in the belief that education is the key to our major problems.”
Elechi, however, encouraged the candidates who were not successful not to lose hope, saying that he would offer additional help to them.
“I also intend to award university scholarship to candidates who pass the 2021 WASSCE; in order to further encourage investment in education,” he added.
Similarly, the Vice Principal of Government Secondary School, Afikpo, Mr Ogbonnia Nwachi, reiterated that 53 candidates were selected from the 12 wards of Afikpo North LGA for the examination but 26 of them were successful.
Nwachi, who is also the General Coordinator of “Mark Elechi Scholarship Scheme”, said that the examination was conducted on Jan. 9, in a serene environment.
He further added that the candidates were tested on three subjects’ areas – the English language, Mathematics and General Knowledge/Current Affairs.
“The scholarship examination remains one of the best exams devoid of influence I have ever conducted in my 21years as a teacher and an educationist.
“I equally wish to stress that this exercise has nothing to do with politics; it is strictly academics,” he said. (NAN)