DODOMA: FIVE Tanzanians will be the first to benefit from the 1.6bn/- Samia Scholarship Extended (SSE) Scheme, after their applications to study master’s Programmes in Nuclear Science Technology sailed through.
The government through the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology is currently helping them to secure the best universities in the United Kingdom, Canada, Italy, Austria and South Africa, according to the Minister responsible for the docket, Professor Adolph Mkenda.
According to the minister, in the 2024/25 fiscal year, the government set aside 1.6bn/- to enable the Tanzania Atomic Energy Commission (TAEC) to sponsor at least five local students to pursue master’s degree in different fields of Nuclear Science Technology outside the country.
In July 2024 after the allocated budget sailed through in parliament, TAEC through the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology officially opened a window for eligible applicants to apply for opportunities to study master’s degree in Nuclear Science Technology through SSE Scheme 2024/25.
Prof Mkenda said the development was part of the robust move by the government to increase the number of nuclear experts in the country. Tanzania faces a tall deficit of experts in the nuclear science sector, making it necessary for the government to come up with a tailor -made viable initiative to help curtailing the deficit.
The scholarship, which only touches the qualified students who opt to undertake first degree in Science, Information and Technology (IT), Engineering and Mathematics subjects, gears to further improving performance of science sector in Tanzania.
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“The demand for nuclear science technology in Tanzania keeps on increase rapidly on daily basis thus, we must mold a good number of the relevant high- profile experts,” Prof Mkenda insisted.
Prof Mkenda told a news conference in Dodoma on Wednesday that the rigorous process to obtain the first beneficiaries of the SSE had been completed detailing that three of them are currently Tutorial Assistants while two others are normal Tanzanians with highest pass rates in science subjects.
Meanwhile, in efforts to extend infrastructures, Zanzibar President Dr Hussein Ali Mwinyi, is on November 13, 2024 expected to officiate the inauguration of TAEC new offices and lab in the Isles as the latter continues to widen its base countrywide.
Prof Mkenda noted that the offices are located at Dungazuze and that Dr Mwinyi had confirmed his attendance at the official launch. So far, according to the minister, TAEC has its offices in Dodoma, Arusha and Mwanza. Plans are also afoot, he said, to have other offices in Mbeya and Mtwara.
