For a number of years now, we have supported 5 young people a year to progress to secondary education at Chambe Secondary school through our Bursary scheme.
We are proud to be a partnership, and so everything we do is done together. During the visit in the summer, the Likhubula committee, Bursary Monitor and Head Teacher at Nansato Primary School made some suggestions on how to improve the Bursary Scheme which the visitors brought back to Scotland to investigate further.
Often young people are offered a place at other secondary schools than Chambe, and it was felt that deserving young people may be missing out on an opportunity because of this. A proposal to open up the scheme to a number of local secondary schools was made.
It was also pointed out that not all young people in the Likhubula area attend Nansato Primary with others attending schools such as Pasani Primary. The group proposed clarifying that the Bursary scheme should be open to any young person who lives in the Likhubula area, regardless of their primary school.
Bursars are expected to work hard and achieve the best results that they can. Studying at night can be difficult when most homes do not have electricity. Solar lamps were suggested as a good way to encourage Bursars to study outside of school and achieve their best.
It was also proposed that a food parcel once a year in January would be a good way to ensure Bursars continued to do their best - even at the most difficult times of year. A very positive discussion was had on potential jealousy of supporting individuals in this way and why the Likhubula committee did not believe this to be a problem.
We are delighted that we are able to take forward all of these suggestions this year! We are very proud of the Bursary scheme and our Bursars, and hope that these improvements only serve to make it even better.
