Westpac awards education grants to 30 females under the 2024 Women and Girls Education Grant Program

30 female students from across Fiji have been awarded education grants under the 2024 Westpac Women and Girls Education Grant.

Westpac says four women are from the Northern Division, two from Labasa, one from Bua and one from Dreketi which is a positive improvement from previous years.

They say each year through the program, Westpac offers 30 bright women and girls the opportunity to apply and win an education grant worth $500, $1,000 and $2,500 across three categories: Primary School, Secondary School and Tertiary/Adult Learners respectively.

Westpac Fiji Chief Executive Shane Smith says at Westpac Fiji, they believe that empowering women and girls through education is key to creating a brighter, more inclusive future for all.

Smith says the grant program reflects their ongoing commitment to supporting and uplifting the next generation of leaders, innovators, and change-makers and they look forward to seeing the incredible impact they will make, not just for themselves, but for their communities and the nation.

After months of marking over 1,400 applications which included essays, creative drawings and video submissions, a total of 10 winners per category have been selected.

One of the four Primary School winners from Valebasoga Public School in Labasa, Mussarat Bi says she found out about the awards from her headteacher and, after talking about it with her parents and decided to apply.

Bi says when she got the call, she was excited because drawing is her hobby and she has plans to be a nurse one day, and saved the grant money to use later.

Kasanita Harriet, another WGEG winner from Valebasoga Public School in Labasa, says she plans on using her grant money to buy her school and stationery supplies for the next school year to help her parents.

Harriet, whose career aspirations include becoming a teacher one day, also says she is so excited and happy to hear that she had won an education grant and drew inspiration for her creative poster from life ambitions of studying and graduating one day too.