Free tuition awards for girls

A scholarship scheme aimed at empowering girls in Sierra Leone kicks off in May this year. Sponsored by a Stockholm-based Sierra Leonean, Peagie Foday, the ”Peagie Woobay Scholarship Award” aims at enabling girls with a skill in essay writing to further their secondary school education with tuition paid by her. The winners will be chosen after an essay competition to be held in April on the topic: “Teenage pregnancy, how we can prevent it; consequences and how victims succeed”. The bursary will be awarded in May this year in Bo by Peagie’s parents. Speaking to Politico, Peagie says the purpose of the award is to “educate our girls”. On why she chose the topic on teenage pregnancy, she says she was a victim herself after getting pregnant on the eve of her secondary school O’ Level exams at the age of 15 years and that if not for the support she received from her parents Mr and Mrs David Woobay, she would have dropped out of school. Today that child is a university graduate who works at Louis Vuitton, Harrods in London. She says five award winners will have their tuition fees fully paid throughout secondary school with the first batch of beneficiaries chosen from among Class 6 pupils at the Roman Catholic Model School in Bo where she got her primary education. “That school gave me the best foundation” she says. Subsequently the competition will be open to all girls throughout Sierra Leone and beneficiaries chosen from across the country. Peagie Woobay was born in 1971 in Kenema eastern Sierra Leone as the third of three girls. She grew up in Bo in the south where she attended the R.C model Primary School and was on top of her class. She briefly attended the St Andrews Secondary School in Bo before enrolling at the St Joseph´s Convent in Freetown. Even though she became pregnant just as she prepared for her O level exams she says she was determined not to let her pregnancy stop her from succeeding in life. She later returned to school at the Ahmadiyya Secondary school in Bo and did well in her o’ level exams before doing her sixth form at The Annie Walsh Memorial. She later went to Fourah Bay College and graduated with BA Honours in French, before pursuing her studies in Paris in Administration. She currently works for the Embassy of Malaysia in Stockholm, Sweden as Administrative and Finance Officer and speaks English, French and Swedish. "I love promoting my Sierra Leonean culture wherever I go" she adds. Peagie is a founder member of The Sierra Leone Swedish Women Progressive Union aimed at supporting women in Sierra Leone. Her mantra is “No girl should drop out of school because of teenage pregnancy”.