Youth Action International (Y.A.I) has on past Monday 25th September 2006 donated scholarships to sixteen (16) graduates of the Junior Secondary School, at the Milton Margai School for the blind at Wilkinson Road, West of Freetown.

In her statement before awarding the scholarship, the Country Representative of YAI, Mrs Yeanor Conteh told audience that the scholarships cover the cost of tuition which would allow the beneficiaries to be enroled in regular Junior Secondary Schools.

The scholarship, according to Mrs. Conteh, is been awarded to children who lost their sights during the war and those that were born blind.

“We prioritize assistance to blind children because we have discovered that blind children are most vulnerable and need assistance in education. We want to support them in our own little way so that they would become productive citizens in the future, despite their disability” the Country Representative said at the award ceremony held at the school grounds, adding that the scholarship fund, “Collazo scholarship,” is for the blind and that it would not only benefit blind student in Freetown but also in the provinces.

Mrs. Conteh also intimated audience that her organization is working to establish an international recognized center for women empowerment.

In his statement, the acting headmaster of the school, Mr. Albert J. Sandy said a lot of concrete arrangements between the school and the organisation have been made and that a memorandum of understanding has already be signed by both parties.

The Headmaster assured the donors that the scholarship would be used for its right purposes, adding that the school will send progress repors to YAI on periodic basis so that the organisation would be updated about the performances of the recipients.

According to the headmaster, the school is housing 88 students who he said are residing in the boarding department, adding that the school has an integrated program with 25 students, whom according to him, would be referred to good schools.

Mr Sandy also called on government and other donors to provide the pupils with their right learning materials.

Giving the background of the school, the Chairman of the Board of the school, Rev. Henry C. Samuel said that the school was founded in 1956 with three (3) pupils namely, Eda Thompson, Joe Turks and Moses Conteh.

“Initially, many people were with the perception that blindness is a contagious disease, a perception we want to change,” he noted.

The scholarship cheque of 1.3 million Leones was presented to Chairman of the Board by the Country Representative of YAI.

The vote of thanks was delivered by one of the beneficiaries, Ibrahim Conteh.

© Copyright by Awareness Times Newspaper in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 30th, 2006 at 12:26 pm and is filed under Education, Scholarship. Tags: Education, Scholarship, Student. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.