AS ‘Samia Scholarship’ gains ground in the country, some 640 Form Six leavers who performed well in science subjects will benefit from it and continue to higher learning institutions.
Making the revelation here yesterday, Minister for Education, Science and Technology, Prof Adolph Mkenda said the scholarship will cater them at the cost of 3bn/-.
He further said the names of those who have met criteria for the scholarship would be made public tomorrow, adding: “Move is in line with government’s initiative to encourage students to study science subjects.”
The scholarship was named after President Samia Suluhu Hassan in her efforts to encourage secondary school students to excel in science subjects.
He said granting the scholarship is based on a student’s excellent performance in science subjects and readiness to continue studying science namely engineering and medical studies in higher learning institutions.
“The scholarship is an incentive to encourage students to venture more into science subjects and this would eventually increase their numbers,” Prof Mkenda pointed out.
Elaborating, he noted that no student who meets the criteria of academic excellence would be left out on grounds of gender, and socioeconomic background, adding, “To start with the beneficiaries of the programme will be posted to the universities within the country and the allocated budget for the scholarship would gradually increase in line with the beneficiaries’ requirements.”
The scholarship is expected to be permanent and expand to meet more beneficiaries who would crop up.
“The idea is that they should benefit from the fund that would be released regardless of the student’s family background. A student will benefit from the scholarship as long as he/she has passed science subjects and upon completion of studies, the student must be ready to serve Tanzanians in any part of the country,” said the minister.
“Every country now wants to invest heavily in science and the government’s intention is to focus on science and technology to improve the society and for national development,” Prof Mkenda said.
