Tomooh has announced its scholarship recipients under the pledged USD200,000 fund which will contribute towards tuition fees of the winning students for the 2006/2007 academic year.

A total of 176 students from all over the Lebanon received their certificates and scholarships at a ceremony attended by His Excellency Dr. Khaled Kabbani, Lebanon’s Minister of Education.

Tomooh Scholarships, which was launched by PepsiCo International in April 2006, has been managed and implemented in partnership with the prominent Lebanese non-profit organization, Ajialouna.

The programme aims to encourage Lebanese students to continue their education and prevent potential drop-outs resulting from financial constraints. This year, the winning students each received scholarships between $300 to $5,000 to cover their tuition fees.

According to Saad Abdul-Latif regional president of PepsiCo International, he was very pleased with the strong interest shown by students of all educational levels in the project.

He said:

‘The Tomooh applications we received reflected a strong determination amongst young Lebanese students fighting all odds to attain a better education.’

The applications were processed diligently by the Tomooh committee to ensure they identify applicants who best demonstrated their scholastic excellence and a drive for success.
‘Through Tomooh, we hope to encourage students, who do not have the sufficient resources, to continue their education, overcoming financial barriers. We are pleased to be able to match the selected students’ academic achievements with this great opportunity,’ continued Abdul-Latif.

Dr. Lina Dada, president of Ajialouna said: ‘With the difficult financial situation most families across Lebanon are facing, this project has been critical in providing students with the opportunity to further their education.

‘The fact that we continued to receive applications from students in the South and other areas in Lebanon during the war, reflected their strong perseverance and desire to attain higher levels of education.’ continued Dada.

The Tomooh committee, under the supervision of Ajialouna, developed a point system which rated students according to their family’s situation: number of siblings, income, debt, in addition to their academic performance.

Dr Dada concluded: ‘The scholarships have been awarded to students from different educational levels. There are 74 university students, 13 who will be attending vocational trainings and 89 high school students.’

Tomooh Scholarships, the first of several projects under the Tomooh umbrella, was launched in Lebanon in April 2006. As a region wide initiative, Tomooh aims at supporting education in the Arab world as means of enabling a better future.

The project received support from Libanpost which provided free postal service to students submitting their applications. Additionally, several Lebanese charity organizations supported Tomooh by encouraging students to apply, and channeling applications to the Tomooh Scholarships committee.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 6th, 2006 at 12:08 am 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.