By AbdulGafar Alabelewe, Kaduna

Subsequent to the recent hike in tuition fees in Kaduna State-owned tertiary institutions, the Marshal Katung Foundation has disclosed that it will float a scholarship scheme to assist indigent and vulnerable students in higher Institutions from 10 local government areas of Kaduna State in the first phase.

Speaking during  a briefing in Kaduna at the weekend, the initiator of the foundation, a former House of Representatives member, Sunday Marshal Katung said: “In the first phase of our intervention, we are going to give scholarships to vulnerable students  from 10 local government areas comprising Chikun, Kajuru, Kachia, Zango Kataf, Jaba, Kauru, Kaura, Jemaa, Sanga and Kagarko, studying in Kaduna State University, College of Education Gidan Waya, Nuhu Bamali Polytechnic and College of Nursing, Kafanchan.

To this end, he said, a dedicated website with a portal that eligible students from these institutions would apply through has been created, adding that in the second phase, we hope that students studying in other institutions will be captured accordingly.

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“But the Marshall Katung Foundation isn’t restricted to only intervening in the tertiary institutions because we have done interventions on a lot of students in some secondary schools. We have also distributed aid to the displaced ones among us while feeding more than 1,000 households during the COVID-19 lockdown.”

Katung said education is key, even as he expressed worries with the spate of out-of-school children, particularly in the North.

“Conscious of this, we have decided to complement the effort of people of goodwill that are interested in improving the educational standard of the country by initiating a strategy to help the vulnerable students to pay their school fees.

“Leaders who had free education in the past have a moral obligation of ensuring that school fees stop no one from being educated.”

The founder disclosed that the second phase of the scholarship scheme will accommodate other local government areas in the state.