Cash, otherwise known as money, is regarded as an incentive to work. Fact is, the reason for the sleepless night and long working hours is so we can earn.
The reason people get educated is that they can get a better shot at the career world and earn a decent sum. Eventually, it's all about monetary reward and financial benefits.
Thus, money in every given situation is a booster and a motivator.
The thing is, we usually do not know how far we can push until a price tag is placed on it.
If someone had told me back then that I will be multitasking and have my hands here and there, I will say it's a lie because I am one of those people heavy on I cannot deal with stress or pressure…
But then, my friend said to me earlier this year, “do not chase money, rather, create value and money will come.”
While cash is reward to educational excellence is a welcome development, I'd rather prefer the cash to he converted to value because that was it becomes sustainable.
Now how can we achieve that? I mean, Converting cash to value as a more better reward to academic excellence... Kindly read up to know how.
At the NGO where I work, we have a special program for academically gifted children.
We go to government schools to give out writing materials and along the line scout for the top 3 best in each classroom.
While we do not give cash, we however, give out a more sustainable benefit that is to say, we give out the value of cash.
Each top 3 best is awarded a full scholarship until they get done with secondary school. But the moment they drop from the top three positions, all financial benefits and scholarships are withdrawn immediately.
Age is not a factor and we do not stop at the educational level, we go further to other necessities of life such as shelter and clothing.
Best believe that this act of ours has kept the school children on their toes because they see their mates benefitting and would also want to be part of the benefits…. Because who no like better thing right? Lol. Even their parents are also at the forefront urging them to take their academics seriously so the financial burden of education can be lifted off them.
We go further to ease the transportation of some of the school children who come from neighboring villages to school.
For starters, imagine trekking 8 to 12 hours every day to and fro just to get an education, we see that such stress can weigh heavily on the educational performance of those involved.
We took up the task of gifting them bicycles and when we went back to check their academic performance, these students went from underdogs to top 5 best in the class.
That is at the primary and secondary level… Now let us go to the tertiary level. I have a friend who schooled at Taraba state university, he's very intelligent such that he graduated with a 5.0 CGPA.
His results were so good that the University management immediately employed him as a lecturer. While lecturing, he was diligent at his job and in no distant time, he started gaining favor from top lecturers and senate bodies.
Thus, when FG released TETFUND for various Universities accross the nation, he was a beneficiary of over a 100million Naira as finance to further his education internationally.
Currently, he's no longer that young man who graduated with a B.Sc. certificate in Mass communication, he's currently a PhD holder.
While he's still at his lecturing job with the Uni, he's currently a researcher for the Chinese government proferring solutions and formulating models on how to boost the Chinese educational sector.
Over the years, in my work experience, I have seen how beneficial education can be, and I think that it will yield more if people are compensated financially or otherwise for performing exceedingly well academically.
We all know how challenging the economy gets, hence, these compensation for academic scholars will go a long in easing off financial burdens on themselves, their parents or guardians.
PS
Above is my response to the #hivelearners community prompt on the topic "Cash Rewards for Academic Brilliance"
All images are mine
