Six pupils of Odoro Primary School, Oleh received cheques and official award letters during assembly this week, marking the start of the Oleh Progressive Minds Association’s 2026 Secondary School Scholarship Scheme, according to the association. Parents were in tears at the presentation, and OPMA has confirmed that more pupils who meet the same academic benchmark will be added to the scheme shortly.
If you have a child in primary school in Oleh, this is a scheme worth understanding properly, because the way these six were chosen tells you exactly what the benchmark is.
It started with an unplanned walk through the classrooms
Back in May, during the APC primary elections held at Odoro Primary School, the President of OPMA, Engr. Paul Ogba, was accredited and counted as a voter. Rather than leaving afterwards, he decided to visit the pupils in their classrooms.
You can watch the full video of that visit and Schorlaship by clicking this link
Nothing about that visit was planned as a scholarship exercise. He went round the classes and paid particular attention to Primary Six, whose pupils were preparing for their Common Entrance examinations. He talked with them, encouraged them to take their studies seriously, and asked about their results from the first and second terms.
What he saw in those results changed things. Impressed by the performance of several pupils, which he described as meeting the OPMA standard, he announced an automatic secondary school scholarship for the four best performers on the spot. He also promised that two more pupils who did well in the Common Entrance examination would be added. That promise was kept, and all six received their awards this week.
The six pupils who made the benchmark
- Friday Rejoice Egwolome
- Godday Godbless Oromena
- Agwere Emmamuzou Fertile
- Ubara Miracle Okeoghene
- Dafe Eva Oghenefegor
- Okiemute Grace Uzezi
The awards were presented by the association’s Media Director, Comr. Clement Ekere, on behalf of the OPMA leadership. He congratulated the new intake and told them the award carried an obligation, urging them to stay committed to their studies now that the support was in place.
What the scholarship is actually worth
Ekere gave a useful comparison when he addressed the pupils. He said the annual educational support provided under the scheme matches what he himself received each year as a beneficiary of a higher institution scholarship sponsored by a multinational oil company.
For a secondary school pupil in Oleh, that’s substantial. It also isn’t a one-off cheque. The support runs annually, which is what makes it genuinely useful to families rather than a single gesture at the start of a school career.
The award letters set out three conditions for continuing to receive it. Beneficiaries have to remain students of recognised secondary schools, maintain good academic performance, and submit a photocopy of their annual report card to the OPMA office for verification. That last one is the practical bit parents need to diarise, because the support depends on it.
There’s a route that continues past secondary school
The scheme doesn’t stop at Senior Secondary Three. Ekere told the beneficiaries that after their six years in secondary school, pupils who keep distinguishing themselves academically could be considered for the OPMA higher institution scholarship scheme.
That gives a pupil in Oleh a potential funded path from the start of secondary school through to a tertiary qualification, provided the performance holds up. It’s worth explaining to a child in those terms, because a scholarship that might continue for another decade is a very different motivation from one that covers this year.
The school has seen other support from the association
The Headmistress of Odoro Primary School, Miss Bessy Ageh, thanked the OPMA leadership and described Engr. Paul Ogba as a visionary individual with a particular passion for education. She pointed to the renovation of one of the school’s main buildings, the association’s back to school packages for pupils, and its participation in the inter-house sports competition.
One parent, a single mother of six whose husband has died, described getting the news while she was at the market. She said she couldn’t contain her joy at the relief it would bring, given that she is left alone to cater for all six children. She also recalled her son coming home the previous year with a new school bag, books, writing materials and a water bottle, and only discovering later that OPMA had provided them as a reward for his academic performance during the back to school project.
More pupils are being added, so the benchmark matters now
With the first phase concluded, the association has said attention now turns to the next set of pupils who have met the benchmark, and they’re expected to be absorbed into the scheme shortly. The scheme is also set to extend beyond Odoro Primary School to pupils in other schools who reach the same standard.
What’s clear from how these six were picked is that the measure was ordinary term results and Common Entrance performance rather than any application form. Nobody applied. The pupils were selected because their first and second term results stood up when somebody looked at them. If your child is in Primary Five or Six in Oleh, the practical takeaway is that termly performance is what gets noticed, and it’s worth keeping report cards safe and in order.
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