After the students of St Jude’s have finished their schooling, they have the opportunity to either continue their studies at the tertiary or college level or opt to find jobs in their chosen professions. The school also developed the Beyond St Jude’s (BSJ) Scholarship Program to assist students with pursuing their future aspirations. So where are they now?
Beyond St Jude’s
The Beyond St Jude’s Scholarship Program (BSJSP) has two main components; community service and higher education. Graduates have the opportunity to apply for the BSJSP in Form or Form 6.
There are three key stages of schooling in Tanzania. It starts with seven years of primary school from Standard 1 to 7. Then four years of secondary school from Form 1 to Form 4 in Ordinary Level (O Level) studies. Lastly, students complete two more years of secondary school from Form 5 to 6 in Advanced Level (A Level) studies.
The first chance graduates can apply for BSJSP is the Alternative Path Program, which is an initiative that was created for Form 4 graduates who wish to take an alternative path to finishing their final two years of schooling. They participate in a Community Service Semester, before joining higher education in college to pursue diploma or certificate courses.
Our Form 6 graduates can apply for BSJSP and must successfully complete a Community Service Year (CSY) before they go on to access higher education through a Tertiary scholarship.
During community service component of the program, our graduates have the option of either giving back to their communities by teaching at government schools or they can volunteer to work with one of St Jude’s internal Head Office teams.
If students choose to volunteer internally with St Jude’s, they’ll gain valuable skills in areas such as marketing, communications and data analytics. The soft and hard skillsets they attain will prepare them for real-world professional settings and increase their chances of employability.
The students that volunteer to teach at government schools play a vital role in addressing the country’s problem of teacher shortages. On average, government school classes have 65 students to one teacher.
Since the inception of the community service initiative, over 100,000 government school students across 70 schools have experienced the far-reaching rippling effect of St Jude’s. It has also saved government schools over AU$2M in teachers' salaries.
Students at University or College
Since 2015, over 400 St Jude’s graduates have attended either university or college supported by the BSJSP. Those students that do not get a scholarship through Beyond St Jude’s will typically apply for external scholarships or government loans that will help support their pathway into tertiary education. In a country where only 8% of tertiary-aged young adults go to higher education, 97% of St Jude’s alumni that go on to study at the tertiary level; that is twelve times the national rate.
Since 2015, St Jude’s alumni have studied at 45 different universities within Tanzania and in 13 different countries spanning North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Currently, alumni are studying in countries such as the United States, Botswana, Mauritius, Russia, Germany, Malaysia, Costa Rica and more. The fields of study include business, STEM, medicine, and agriculture.
The students abroad demonstrate high adaptability and tenacity in the face of adversity, such as Elibariki Ngitoria, who graduated from St Jude’s in 2015. Driven by his future aspiration of becoming a Doctor, Elibariki has been studying at Tula University in Russia where he had to learn Russian to be able to undertake a Bachelor of General Medicine. It is student stories such as his that inspire hope.
