Envoy sends students off to China

Cavin Kanoko | Friday August 23, 2019 13:57

 

A total of 52 students have been chosen as beneficiaries of the scholarship

The beneficiaries are expected to leave the country for China starting from August 31, 2019. The Chinese government has been giving out scholarships to Batswana students who aspire to study in China for over four decades.

Chinese ambassador to Botswana, Zhao Yanbo hosted a farewell reception for scholarship beneficiaries for the 2019/20 academic years at the Chinese embassy in Botswana on Wednesday.

The reception was preceded by an orientation for the prospective students on their journey to China and the expectations of the sponsor.

Speaking at the event, the Chinese envoy said: “It comes at a time when China celebrates the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic”. He said China has evolved from a very poor country to the second largest economy in the world over the past 70 years.

Yanbo said understanding the development of the Botswana-China relations is important as the beneficiaries go to study in China. He also said the diplomatic relations between the two countries have been sustained by vigorous cooperation in various areas since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two, 44 years ago.

He said since President Mokgweetsi Masisi came to power, greater opportunities to further grow relations between the countries have presented themselves adding that the beneficiaries can help utilise the opportunities.

For his part, Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology Tebogo Bagopi urged the beneficiaries to have a productive time in China and also to abide by the laws of the country. She pointed out that Botswana was very lucky to have bilateral relations with China as other countries have benefited a lot from these relations.

The scholarship has seen the number of beneficiaries increase from the initial five to 10 students a year to this year’s 52. A total of over 600 students have already benefited from the scholarship with 200 students currently still studying in China.