Montserrado County Electoral District#16 Representative Dixon W. Seboe has reaffirmed his commitment to the scholarship scheme he has been funding in the district, which is situated in Monrovia’s Bushrod Island suburb.
The scholarship, hugely funded by the governing Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) lawmaker, was officially launched in 2016 prior to his election as District #16 Rep.
The beneficiaries are not selected based on party line or whether their parents voted or didn’t vote for the lawmaker, but it is meant to ensure genuine unity and reconciliation in the district.
The scholarship program is under the theme: “National development void of politics through education.”
Giving an overview of the scholarship program, the Chief of office Staff in the lawmaker’s office, Robert W. Anderson recounted that they started with 175 students amounting to L$2.7million in 54 schools.
Mr. Anderson also said the number grew to 272 during the 2019/2020 academic year amounting to L$5.7million in 72 schools and beneficiaries of the scholarship are students selected from the 26 communities in the district.
As it stands, the scholarship program has a total of 335 students from 68 schools for the past three years amounting to L$6.5million.
Speaking at the program, the Lawmaker said that it is better to be freed through education. According to the tough-talking CDC lawmaker, there is no freedom if the children or citizens of a country are not educated.
Rep. Seboe further said: “The children can be Accountants, doctors, lawyers among others. About 30 years ago, I wore uniforms and I was opportune and today I am a serious Representative in the Republic of Liberia. To our students, don’t overlook yourselves. You can be the next Neurosurgeon in the country.”
“People thought good people couldn’t come from New Kru Town and I will continue to educate our children. Countries across the globe have developed principally through education and they will grow and educate others and make good decision. My administration runs until 2029 and we will continue to send our children to school whether their parents voted for me or not. Our children will go to school. We are hoping to reach L$10million and I will leave office in 2029, because 2023 is already locked down, but if you want to run, wait for 2029 because I will not be contesting. Let’s develop our country by educating the young ones. If developing the minds of the children is not tangible, go and define tangible. We have tangibles in this district. Education is one of the real tangibles. I want kids to say in 2029 that if it was not Hon. Seboe, I wouldn’t have graduated from high school,” said Rep. Seboe.
According to him, he and his team will ensure the children go to school. He told the students to be respectful and make the right grades because they are scholars making strives despite challenges.
The Montserrado Electoral District#16 lawmaker said “We will ensure you graduate from high school. We also have students on our program who are in universities and colleges. We are determined to change our district and we are not here for pretty politics. 90-95% of the funds have been provided by me. Let’s educate our young people. If you don’t love me, that’s your business.”
Speaking on behalf of the beneficiaries, Antoinette George of the Trinity United Methodist High School thanked the lawmaker for his generosity toward their education.
The average school fees for each of the student is around L$20,000.
At the program, sixteen students who obtained highest averages were presented educational materials from the office of the lawmaker and the two best received L$5,000 and L$3,000 respectively.
Presenting the materials, Representative Seboe said, “The sixteen best performing students’ parents will not pay any extra fee. We will pay even if it is above L$20,000 because they are real scholars and we want academic jealousy.”