In fulfillment of its commitment to raise the bar in education financing and support government’s efforts at repositioning the education sector, Sterling Bank Plc has rolled out various offerings that would make going back to school in September a lot easier for all stakeholders in the value chain. The offerings include special gifts for children with the Bank’s I Can Save Account; School fees financing for parents; special training programmes and household equipment finance scheme for teachers; school finance as well as sponsorship of events organized by them.
Shina Atilola, Sterling Bank’s group head, Strategy & Communications, at the weekend told journalists that new and existing, “I CAN SAVE customers can enjoy freebies such as school bags, raincoats, cultural heritage books, exercise books and other writing materials depending on the amount of savings in their account.”
Atilola explained that the financing scheme advanced to parents was introduced to assist parents at the time of resumption of their wards. The introduction of the scheme, according to him, will allow parents put their wards in school while awaiting salaries and other receivables.
He assured that the bank will continue to support capacity building in the education sector noting that schools with their salary domiciled will have the opportunity of having their teachers trained by the bank under the Bank’s Personal Financial Management training scheme.
He further spoke on other plans for teachers: “Teachers deserve the quality of living that employees in other sectors of the society enjoy. This informed the Bank’s introduction of the Household Equipment Finance. This solution allows teachers and other school staffers acquire household equipment like Refrigerating Sets and Television sets amongst other items with flexible repayment options spread over three months at discounted rates.”
Furthermore, Atilola stated that schools are not left out under the arrangement. His words: “For schools, we have introduced the School Finance scheme. With this, schools can access facilities to bridge working capital gaps, expand and acquire assets with a tenor of up to 60 months at interest rates lower than the industry benchmark. The funds can be used for acquisition of school buses, generator sets, inverters and renovation among others.”
The bank under the School and Family Events Partnerships would also provide support in the form of partnership and gift items for schools and other relevant organizations during events such as Inter House Sport Competitions, Children’s Day, Cultural Day, Open Day, Fun Day, PTA meetings and Mother’s/Father’s Day.