admin
Oliver Kazunga Senior Reporter
THE ED-UNZA Scholarship Trust is targeting to award over 100 scholarships in the next five years to underprivileged students to study at various local universities and at the University of Zambia.
ED-UNZA Scholarship Trust chairman Mr Herbert Nkala said this in Harare yesterday at a function where Zimbabwe’s largest mining group, Kuvimba Mining House (KMH), announced that it was sponsoring five students to study Bachelor of Science (Honours) Degree in Mining and Geological Engineering at the University of Zimbabwe.
The Scholarship Trust, whose founder and patron is President Mnangagwa, was established in November 2019.
“To date, the Trust has awarded 44 scholarships, with 22 Zimbabwean students studying at the University of Zambia. More than half of them are doing medicine and some doing law and I think we have got an actuary somewhere in there.
“It’s our patron’s wish that in five years’ time, the Trust will be sponsoring and impacting the lives of over 100 students like these young boys and girls that you see here,” he said.
The ED-UNZA Scholarship Trust’s first intake started university in January 2021.
“It was at the fund-raising dinner in 2021 hosted by our patron when Kuvimba, through their chief executive officer (Mr Simba Chinyemba) decided to join the ED-UNZA Scholarship Trust on a journey that reaches the most vulnerable and desperate young people in our society; to give them a whole new start in life with hopes, ambitions and aspirations that their current situations cannot afford them and yet they richly deserve because there are some of the brightest and best students in our country,” said Mr Nkala.
He commended KMH for honouring its commitment saying it was in the group’s best interests to fund the initial group to undertake mining-related studies for the beneficiaries, as this would have a direct and positive impact in the firm’s operations and the industry at large.
The ED-UNZA Scholarship Trust’s objectives as set by the founder are to identify needy youths, who are highly gifted academically, but have not been able to proceed to university due to their underprivileged status.
The students should have obtained no less than 15 points at Advanced Level.
“We have a girl who came to us with 20 points at A’ Level last year. Because our patron studied at the University of Zambia, a highly-rated university in Africa, most of the identified Zimbabwean students would go to study law at UNZA and some Zambian students with similar social status will come to study at any of our universities in Zimbabwe.
“The students will study law because of our patron’s own training and preference, but some will also study medicine and various sciences and right now, more than half of our students are actually doing sciences and medicine rather than law,” said Mr Nkala.
The ED-UNZA Scholarship Trust also requires that the students have to come from each of the country’s 10 provinces.
“Our patron is very committed to making sure that there is a regional balance and there is no bias towards any one single province.
“The students will have 50/50 gender balance and we have been instructed that if the pool of students is in favour of boys, then we may reduce the minimum qualifying points of the girl child to 13 until the stipulated balance of 50/50 has been attained,” he said.
Mr Nkala said the ED-UNZA Scholarship Trust is not a Government project, but a personal vision of President Mnangagwa.
Like other scholarship trusts, the ED-UNZA will outlive the tenure of its patron.
Mr Nkala also commended KMH for including the education sector under the group’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme.
“This is probably the most important undertaking of your corporate life that through CSR you will change the lives of people who are otherwise doomed to a life of poverty.
“Breaking the cycle and giving them and their families a start and a promise of a better and brighter future that not only benefits them but benefits the nation as a whole,” he said.
In his address, Mr Chinyemba said KMH is answering a call from the President about helping underprivileged students.
“Kuvimba Mining House raised its hand and said we would want to support, but on one condition that we will be doing it for things that are related to mining and ED-UNZA was very happy with that.
“This now is what we have as a result of them accepting that. For us, investing in young people is part of our commitment to building an organisation that will last beyond this current generation and we commit as long as there is a future, Kuvimba will always be investing in young people and that is really why we are doing this,” he said.
For their first five students, Mr Chinyemba said KMH’s commitment goes beyond just paying tuition for the learners and upkeep while at UZ.
“We are committed that we will take all of you for industrial attachment and because we are a company of excellence, if you do well and you pass your degree, we are committing to employ you afterwards.
“It is that simple; you have no pressure to worry about employment after school.
“All you have to worry about is to pass your degree and we will guarantee that you will have a job at Kuvimba Mining House.”
The five students who are starting their studies at UZ next week were presented with brand new laptops and US$500 cash for their upkeep during the upcoming semester.
The students are Chilongezyo Muleya, Panashe Nyakura, Nelia Fundu, Charity Muleya and Inomusa Sibanda.
In separate interviews after the event, the students expressed gratitude over the life-changing opportunity presented by the ED-UNZA Scholarship Trust, through KMH.
Said Charity Muleya (22): “I come from a very poor family in Beitbridge and because my father was unemployed, I went to school bare-footed. And when I started my secondary education, I got a bursary that provided me with uniforms and stationary and my school fees was also paid for.
“At A’ Level, I came out with 13 points and I am very grateful that I got a scholarship through which Kuvimba has chipped in to sponsor me throughout my studies and already as you have heard from KMH, we are guaranteed of employment by the company upon successful completion of our studies.”
Sibanda (21) said she did her secondary education in Gokwe, Midlands Province, through a bursary.
“Though I did my secondary up to A’ Level, I could not afford to go to university in 2021 until I got the ED-UNZA Scholarship programme where Kuvimba is sponsoring my studies together with my colleagues here today.
“This opportunity is really a turning point considering that I am a girl-child, whose gender is largely undermined in a patriarchal society. So, this initiative has also indicated that the girl-child really matters.”
Online Reporter