Kisumu Day High School became the first proud beneficiary of Sh600,000 worth of textbooks from the Absa Kenya Foundation.
This follows the newly launched foundation’s rollout of programs focusing on four pillars of education and skills, natural resource management (trees planting), entrepreneurship, health and humanitarian relief.
The saving and lending financial institution has set aside 1.5 percent (Sh500m) of its annual earnings to the new foundation.
‘The partnership with these schools will help the learners to deepen their skills as they prepare to enter the job market and build their future. We are glad to be here today and invest in them at this stage of their lives’-charles wokabi, absa
To improve education across the country, the foundation has advanced Sh 600,000 worth of textbooks to Kisumu Day School.
Many students who pursue learning at the school were identified as mostly coming from informal families.
Charles Wokabi, Absa Bank’s Head of Sustainability and Corporate Affairs said the initiative was advancing the work they have been doing in partnership with the schools.
“The partnership with these schools will help the learners to deepen their skills as they prepare to enter the job market and build their future. We are glad to be here today and invest in them at this stage of their lives,” Wokabi said during the book presentation at the school.
Through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), the foundation has built 72 Computer Laboratories across the country.
More partnerships
Wokabi said the bank is currently partnering with internet service providers to offer connectivity in schools where they have set up the computer laboratory.
“These are young men who possess high ambitions to prosper by working in big cities and corporations to realize their dreams,” Wokabi noted.
School Principal Daniel Mwaturo said the initiative will enhance learning in the school.
“He who gives you books gives you knowledge, and he who has been given knowledge but keeps it away without using it: that knowledge is dead,’’ Mwaturo said.
He urged the students to make good use of the resources.
Under the entrepreneurship pillar, the foundation is striving to empower 50,000 Micro-Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the next five years in the country.
The bank is also working on a structure of an education scholarship fund to sponsor about 5,000 students in the country.
“We are moving strategically with a bias towards the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) subjects. The world is moving very fast and knowledge of science subjects is key. We are still working on the total amount for the scholarship fund,” Wokabi explained.
