Limkokwing University of Creative Technology yesterday handed over a whopping M450,000 cheque to the Minister of Education and Training (MOET), Makabelo Mosothoane, at the University's campus.
Limkokwing University of Creative Technology yesterday handed over a whopping M450,000 cheque to the Minister of Education and Training (MOET), Makabelo Mosothoane, at the University’s campus.
During the third annual media reception, the institution revealed that the money will go towards paying for the 66 students from previously identified high schools in the country.
The money will be directly deposited into the accounts of the respective high schools. The fees are paid specifically for orphaned and vulnerable children who have been selected by MOET.
According to the university’s Regional Director, Marketing and Recruitment, Marcia Mangadi, the institution wants to see all the high school students pursuing all their educational goals.
“We would like to see all high school students getting to the finish line and essentially enrolling at tertiary,” Ms Mangadi said.
“There is no reason why we should still have Basotho children who have never been to school when there is free primary education, we want to see even herd boys attend schools together with orphaned and vulnerable children,” she added.
Minister Mosothoana applauded the University for the scholarships, indicating that the deed could be a life changing moment for the underprivileged students.
‘This corporate social responsibility act will help these students to have the bright future they couldn’t have had,” she explained, and further acknowledged that Limkokwing is the first university to partner with the media, and encouraged other organisations to do the same.
The university also announced that it is working on implementing a scholarship which will be awarded to four media houses with four degree scholarships worth M400,000 for the 2014 academic year. The scholarship will be presented to the Ministry of Communications Science and Technology which the media fraternity falls under, and then all the media partners will apply for the scholarships under the ministry.
Upon submission of applications, candidates’ qualifications will be assessed for eligibility according to the University’s entry requirements and admissions will be based on merit of each applicant. The Minister of Science, Communication and Technology, Tseliso Mokhosi said this was a great initiative, which shows that Limkokwing is committed in playing a major role in the development of the the media fraternity.
He disclosed that research conducted by the same institution has indicated that there are gaps that are likely to create discontent between the media industry and members of the public.
“Lesotho as a developing country needs to position itself amongst industry leaders and this can only be achieved if media practitioners have been instructed on media ethics, professionalism and legislation governing the industry,” he added, before also mentioning that the establishment of new media houses brings about more challenges to practicing journalists, hence the need for a new approach.
