Aina Simon
OSHAKATI – Gerhard Martin Shimwooshili, 21, from Omeege village in Oshana Region is the
first beneficiary of the Oshana Regional Council scholarship that would fund his studies toward a Bachelor’s Degree in Aeronautical Engineering at Nanchang Hangkong University in China.
The scholarship is one of the five partial scholarships offered by Jiangxi Provincial Government in China as part of the bilateral agreement they signed with Oshana Regional Council a few years ago.
Oshana regional education director Hileni Amukana indicated that there were about 115 applications from Oshana Region that went through proper screening to determine the five best candidates for the five
scholarships, but due to some complications, the candidates could not be sent to China last
year until four of the chosen candidates managed to secure local scholarships elsewhere, hence council is only sending one candidate this year.
Amukana indicated that the partial scholarship is not entirely sufficient to send candidates
to China hence the region’s Directorate of Education, Arts and Culture is tasked with resources mobilisation and conducting all processes of awarding the scholarships to education stakeholders to assist
the Education Trust Fund. The Oshana Office of the Governor, Zongmei Engineering Group,
and other private individuals are some of the stakeholders that contributed financially and
in kind to top-up to the partial scholarship so that the region can decently send Shimwooshili
to study in China.
The Jiangxi Provincial Government promised to renew the scholarship annually based on the student’s performance and on this note Amukana is further calling on Good Samaritans to come on board
and assist the Oshana Education Trust Fund in order to sustain the study of Shimwooshili.
“I am calling upon all our stakeholders for them to able to top up on an annual basis to the fund so that the Fund can sustain Shimwooshili’s studies in China,” urged Amukana.
*Aina Simon is an Information Officer in the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology based in Oshakati.