Top 50 students to join apprentice programme ahead of university, Allan Udoma relishes Foundation support as he emerges second nationally
Two hundred of the KCB Foundation high school scholarship beneficiaries who sat for the 2020 national examination have qualified for university, having attained the required minimum grade C+ and above.
In the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) 2020 examination results released on Monday, 50 of the 240 students who sat for the test under the scholarship got As and A minuses.
The KCB Foundation class achieved a mean of B plain in results which saw Allan Udoma Wasonga from Agoro Sare High School in Oyugis, emerge the second top student nationally with a straight A of 87.173 points.
This emerged as the KCB Foundation kicked off an annual apprenticeship programme that will have the top 50 of their beneficiaries get a three-month apprenticeship at their local KCB Bank branch. The 50 from the 2020 cohort will be onboarded in the coming weeks as they await to join university.
“It’s a phenomenal and impactful story to see 90% of the beneficiaries who are drawn from needy backgrounds qualify for university places. Going forward, the top students will join our apprenticeship programme, to give them a feel of the working environment as they prepare to pursue their university education and careers,” said KCB Foundation Acting Chief of Party, Caroline Wanjeri. “2020 was quite the unprecedented year because of the pandemic, and the effects spilled over to our learners as well, given the effect on the school calendars and household finances. As such, we are very proud of the results posted by each of our beneficiaries, who have demonstrated that with determination and focus, anyone can succeed,” she added.
In addition to Allan, the other top performers who got As include Brian Otango from Friends’ School Kamusinga (A) and Pareyio Pion from Alliance high school (A). Those with A- included among others Mutua Patriciah Nzila from Moi Girls High School Eldoret (A-), Dennis Odhiambo from Kisii High (A-), Victor Onyango Orende from Maranda High School (A-), Kiumba Karen Wambui from Bishop Gatimu Ngandu Girls High School (A-), Praosidis Akinyi from Asumbi Girls High School (A-) , Jackline Mwavani Odiero from Asumbi Girls High School (A-) and Gitonga Risper Nkirote from Kaaga Girls High School high school (A-).
The scholarship programme started 14 years ago with the aim of supporting efforts to increase the transition rate from primary to secondary school. The KCB Foundation supports 240 students from across Kenya annually, 40 of them Persons with Disability, by providing a full four-year scholarship in public schools catering for school fees, stationery, and uniforms. Additionally, each of the students is assigned a mentor from their local KCB Bank home branch for quarterly one-on-one mentorship sessions.
“After KCPE I lacked fees to proceed to high school, so I applied for several scholarships and the KCB Foundation programme accepted my appeal. Part of the criteria included a regular mentorship session, and I would carry my report form every time I visited the Foundation offices at Kencom. In Form 3, one of the officials from foundation challenged me to make headlines after my KCSE, after noting my scores – little did I know I actually would,” said Allan Udoma Wasonga.
The programme has had a total of 3100 beneficiaries since 2007; 1,070 students are currently in school, with 240 recruited for the class of 2021.
