Education, Science, Vocational Training and Early Education spokesperson Hilary Chipango says a total of 1,055 Zambian students are currently being supported at various universities abroad.
Mr. Chipango said government remains indebted to the generosity and hopitality of the people and governments of those respective countries.
He said out of the 1,055 students studying abroad, 136 students were expected to graduate from Algeria, China, Cuba, Russia Federation and Tunisia by the end of August 2014 and return home.
Mr. Chipango said currently 178 Zambians are pursuing undergraduate and Post graduate studies in ALGERIA, 140 in China, 38 in Cuba, 12 in Cyprus, 15 in India, 493 IN Russia and 78 in Turkey among other countries.
The ministry’s spokesperson said this in a statement released in Lusaka, today.
All the scholarships are availed to Zambia are advertised in the daily papers and the applicants are interviewed and selected by a panel adding that the procedures are reviewed to make them more transparent and accountable.
He said as a ministry they acknowledge the outstanding performance of the majority of the students abroad as they are competing favorably with other nationals.
Mr. Chipanga has however warned all students abroad to desist from irresponsible acts which impact negatively on the image of Zambia.
He said the bursaries Committee has been directed to withdraw sponsorship at the slightest hint of misbehavior of any Zambian student abroad.
Mr. Chipango has also urged the students taking up scholarships this year to be exemplary in their studies and endeavor at all times and be ambassadors of Zambia by flying the Zambian flag high.
I would rather go to Evelyn Hone or Lusaka Trades than study in any of these countries!
Nubian princess, your view of this world is skewed towards the west. you believe that nothing good can come out of the east and eastern oriented countries. I would love to show you why this is wrong, but i wont, it wont help you until you try to find the answers all by yourself. All i can do is trigger your thought deeper into research as to why i write your thoughts as skewed. And my writing this reply to you is a hope that you will do some serious introspection of your political, social and economic view of the whole world with an unbiased view. I hope you really find the answers my sister/brother. i really do.
Zagaze, Evelyn Hone or Lusaka Trades, I think are based in Lusaka central & NOT the “West” for crying out loud!!!
maikalange – the zambian education system is modeled on the british one. thats why up to now, you still have physics books with problems talking about trains moving from glasgow to london at a speed of 108km/h etc. It is a western system of education you have in zambia. Examination system is different from the say russian system where random tickets are picked by students to answer and then defended before a mini committee in each and every exam. so when i say the west, it does not leave out zambia since your identity in education is based on western one in particuar the british system. I believe i shouldnt even have had to explain this to you. simple deductive reasoning should have made you see, but i guess this western education doesnt teach you that.
My brother, i think you have a complex and your complex is very complex. if you find time, check the world ranking of universities and colleges and compare Evelyn Hone with Indian, Russian or Chinese universities. It might help you understand the the world you live in. but if you will be busy i can give u an idea. UNZA is ranked around 4000 plus in the world when Havard is ranked 1#. Chinese best university – University of Hong Kong is ranked 24#. I may not want to know the ranking of Evelyn Hone coz it should be 5 times worse than unza. When the president was unwell, he would be taken to India not UTH why? if Hone or unza was better, the president would have been taken to UTH. you are judging the cover not the book.
Hon minister,can you please break down this number region by region and then tribe by tribe.
Why talk and think about tribe in any issue?…You are a damn TRIBAL FELLA!
I thought GRZ no longer sponsors people abroad except for a few essential graduate programs which are not offered locally. But why waste money on scholarships in such hopeless contries? It will make sense if you tell me it these countries which offer the scholarships in collaboration with the bursaries committee.
These are bilateral scholarships where the host country pays the air ticket, tuition fee and in most cases give the student a living allowance. Zambian government through Bursaries Committee supplements the student’s allowance by about $250 per month. So basically the government spends little on these students studying abroad ($250) compared to what it spends on folks studying at UNZA/CBU; where it pays living allowance and tuition of up to 100%. You may call such countries useless, but many Zambians from poor families who couldn’t afford to go into local institutions are grateful for such scholarships and are forever indebted to those countries for giving the scholarship. Prof Chirwa, Prof Nkandu Luo are some of the beneficiaries.
All these bursaries are not advertised. Only if you re connected somehow would you get such a scholarship especially undergraduate. I would have been impressed if the bursaries were that of America or europe. one is better off to study in RSA or Namibia than those crazy countries like Russia!
Typical ungrateful Africans who think the world owes them something. If you
have a great institutions of learning why don’t you find a cure for the Ebola virus.
There is corruption at bursuries committee. ACC should investigate them, like what/which criteria they use to pick or select these students. Every Zambian has the right to these scholarships and there should be a transparency way to pick up these students but the case is opposite.
Instead of going to Russia and China and learning how to be brainwashed in to being a robot of the state. Why does the Zambia govt not sponsor some of the top professors to teach in Zambia for a couple years, and do what “Doctors Without Borders” does, they volunteer their services. One professor can teach 50 students which is a lot cheaper than sending 50 students overseas and coming back with a piece of paper from a unknown place that has no real international standing. For example go to Russia and learn how to invade other countries and shoot down passenger jets.
Or go to the USA and Britain and learn how to invade other peoples lands all in the name of bringing democracy when in actual fact it is natural resources they are after, Imposing religions and languages on native people thereby destroying their civilizations and culture. How about that? Dont just watch CNN and FOX news my friend, your view of the world will be so skewed that you will start to think that the only right way to live is being a christian and a so called democracy as a system of governance.
ken , people have missed you point. Lecturing standards are poor and unprofessional in Zambia, CBU included. Lecturers seem to be more of a show off than helping students. SBE hard horrible lecturers who were so much concerned about students private life than anything else. They see you drink beer or hang around with momas then its a sign of not being serious.
Ba Chipango, congrats sir. From a simple Primary school teacher at Lusakasa Primary School to a spokesperson for the ministry, you have really played your cards well. Weldone sir. This is your former pupil Thomas now a beneficiary of one of the scholarships you are referring to.
I agree with Nubian Princess, I would rather be on bursary at CBU, UNZA, University of Lusaka etc or even Nortec than those countries mentioned above; except for China perhaps.
I once tried to apply. According to the advert, first priority was to be given to those who did either Marketing or BBA. I graduated with a merit. surprisingly, I was not even called for interviews. A week after they published the final selected names, I saw a friend who was selected even when he did not apply for it. Worse still, he did R/E and P/E at his first degree with silence. What he told me is “YOU NEED TO KNOW SOMEONE”. Thank GOD I got a scholarship to study in NETHERLAND. Let alone study on GRZ SCHOLARSHIPS.
hehehehe this is where you can see that zambians are the most misinformed people. if one can be so misinformed about issues like these that have everything to do with the education of his or her country, what more international issues?
@Backbencher,
Absolutely right.
If enlightened colleagues can exhibit such levels of ignorance on the topic at hand, where you expect them to know the procedure, then it means they’re misinformed in a whole range of issues affecting us locally.
@the chosen one,
very true, the thing is that we zambian think we are still in the era of folktales, utushimi, because ba yama told you so na so, because the friend to you elder brother told you brother who then told you and you take it as such instead of making a research and get first hand information from the people who have really been there or just go there yourself, experience it and draw you own non-biased conclusion.
Its so difficult to get the bursaries unless you are connected. What pains most is that most of these children who are offered such scholarships come from well to do families like children to high ranking govt officials at the expense of poor children from poor families. What a country, I am ashamed of my leaders.
China and Japan developed because they blended local and foreign education. They sent some of their people to the so called west to study. When these nationals went back home they were able to interpret/integrate what they learned int the local context. Sometimes they did better in some fields such as electronics than foreign education education taught them.
We need both local and foreign education to grow and develop as a nation. Can you imagine that 50 years after independence we have just improved in service industry and few infrastructure around Lusaka and CB. The rest of the country is wild.
We need to rethink education and manage these scholarship better than they are currently being done.
i’m prompted to reply to the guy who said he would rather go to Evelyn Hone than countries such as china, india, russia, algeria etc. one wonders why President Sata was evacuated to India when evelyn Hone college or Zambia in general produced “graduates” good enough doctors. that’s only a tip of an iceberg, you may wish to know that China has fine universities like University of Hong Kong with world rank of 24. By the way if Hong Kong is has 24th best university, Zambia’s UNZA is around 4000 plus by world. If UNZA is ranked like that, how about Evelyn Hone? The bible clearly say my people perish for lack of knowledge! indeed its true. To my brother who would rather go to Evelyn Hone, i would say read more coz ignorance is not a privilege but a misfortune!!
Allow me to air my views on that one who said he would rather go at evalyn hon than the countries mentioned above. let me tell you my friend you can not compare zambian education to chinese education. and can u please answer this question why do the zambian govenment get engineers from china to construct our roads, brige etc? chinese education is just like their american counterpart.