looking after her five siblings aged between 11 and 23 years, all in school.
“I used to work and study at the same time so my grades were deteriorating, but when I got a scholarship my grades improved to such an extent that I obtained an upper second degree,” she recalls.
Najjemba, now a sales executive with Monitor Publications Limited, obtained a Bachelor of Business Administration (Purchasing and Supplies Management), thanks to the Madhvani Foundation (MF) Scholarship.
For Barbara Atiti, 29, who obtained a MF scholarship last year, the circumstances were different. Her father had retired from the public service and he had many obligations his family is large with several young ones who had not yet completed A-level.
“So the thinking was that since I had reached university the rest of the resources should be used to cater for my younger siblings and this inspired me to look for alternative sources of funding since my performance in my third year of study was good at the time of applying for the scholarship,” she said.
Atiti, a final year civil engineering student from Kyambogo University, learnt of the MF scholarship after she joined Excel Construction Limited, where she is working as an industrial trainee.
“I applied when they advertised in the newspapers and I waited and I kept checking in the papers and I found that I was short listed for the interviews.”
The Madhvani Foundation started offering scholarships in 1962, but it stopped in the early 1970s when President Idi Amin (RIP) expelled Asians from Uganda, according to Mr Krishna Iyengar, secretary of the Foundation. The scheme was revived in the 2003 and since then over 448 scholarships worth Sh1.4 billion have been awarded.
This year, the Foundation has offered scholarships worth Sh.536 million, which is Sh.20 million more than last year’s contribution. This is the largest amount of money ever donated by the Foundation.
This has been done this in order to account for inflation and the increased cost of University tuition fees which is a common reality among institutions of higher learning across the country, according to a press release issued by the Foundation. “This is the reason why despite the fact we have donated a lot more money than the previous year the number of students who received scholarships has actually reduced slightly from 175 in 2009 to 149 this year,” the press release reads in part. Commenting on the demographic distribution of the scholarships Mr. Henry Kyemba said “I am pleased to once again to that the scholarships were in general evenly distributed across the country.” The East got the most with 43 followed by the West with 41, Central region got 38 while the North with received 27. Kyemba is the Chairman of the Madhvani Foundation Education Sub-Committee.
The objective is to help needy students, who would otherwise be unable to find university fees, according to Kyemba.
The scholarships, which only pay for university fees, are awarded to students who have already started university education or have completed a first degree. Why?
“Because we want to be assured of soundness and seriousness of the students their grades must be good which demonstrates they are trying their level best despite the challenges they are facing. We are looking for total commitment of the student to study,” Kyemba explained.
Madhvani Foundation is one of the many examples of funding for university local education in Uganda. The funding agencies or organizations have got special preferences. Some fund both undergraduate and graduate programmes, while others fund only one of the two categories.
The Kulika Uganda chief executive officer, Mr Elijah Kyamuwendo said they are using the concept of corporate partnerships to fund local university education.
“We are encouraging companies to emulate Coca-Cola, which has given us 24 scholarships for two years yrs for vocational training, Uganda telecom 56 scholarships for five years worth Sh700 million up to 2011 and Bank of Africa Uganda they gave us money to support blind students at universities,” he revealed.
This year, Kulika Uganda local graduate scholarships courses include: agriculture, engineering, anesthesiology, obstetrics and gynaecology, medical radiology, veterinary medicine, architecture, counseling, food science and technology and Master of Science in Finance.
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