22 Aug 2019

China will continue to provide scholarships to Batswana, says Chinese ambassador, Dr. Zhao Yanbo.

Giving remarks at the farewell reception for 2019 Chinese government scholarship beneficiaries in Gaborone on August 21, he said out of over 2 000 applicants, 52 students and 20 Botswana Defense Force (BDF) officers had been nominated to study in Chinese universities.

“China and Botswana have identified education and capacity building as an important area of cooperation. We started providing government scholarship to Botswana about 4 decades ago. The annual number of government scholarship beneficiaries has grown form 5-10 in the early days to 52 this year, which is a high record,” he said.

He also noted that over 600 China government sponsored students had completed their study in China and returned home to service the country.

According to Dr Zhao, there were still around 200 Botswana students studying in China and many of them were self-sponsored, adding that China had become one of the favorite destinations for young Batswana to study overseas.

Dr Zhao stated that China and Botswana’s long standing cooperative relations had been substantiated by vigorous cooperation in various areas ever since establishment of diplomatic ties 44 years ago.

Giving examples of the cooperative relations which China and Botswana shared, he said construction of the third China-aid primary school in Mmopane had started and the fourth one in Kazungula was also on cards. 

He further noted that BDF officers training programme had become an annual arrangement for China-Botswana military exchanges.

 

In her remarks, deputy permanent secretary in the Ministry of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology, Ms Tebogo Bagopi encouraged beneficiaries to learn the norms and culture of the Chinese people, and to respect as well as abide by the laws of the country. She also encouraged them to make the most of opportunities in the foreign land and to be ready to develop Botswana upon finishing their studies. ENDS