US$7m scholarships

for the coming academic year.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday praised the students drawn from the country’s 10 provinces for earning places at top American universities under the US Student Achievers Programme (USAP) run by the embassy’s public affair section in Harare.

The US Ambassador to Zimbabwe Charles Ray presided over the event. Among the 2011 USAP group, three students are physically disabled, several are the heads of their households having lost both parents and others are the offspring of street and market vendors. One scholarship recipient worked as a gold panner to pay his A level fees and another will be the first Zimbabwean student in a wheelchair to study in the United

States. PM Tsvangirai urged youths studying abroad to return to the country upon completing their studies, saying Zimbabwe needed the expertise they acquired outside. He made the remarks in Harare yesterday at the send-off ceremony. – HR.