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SCHULBANK Stipediaten in Iringa, Tansania

With your support to finance a scholarship place, you can give parentless young people a real educational opportunity – and relieve the burden on their families and relatives at the same time. Many parents or relatives are faced with major concerns about the future and independence of their children or protégés. Attending a private school or university is usually financially out of reach for them and often not an option at all.

A scholarship from SCHULBANK makes this important step possible. Although additional school costs such as uniforms or transportation still have to be borne by the students themselves, the main burden – the school fees – is covered.

Many scholarship holders also move to boarding schools, which offer more concentrated learning and an orderly, quiet environment. In this way, the young people receive optimal support, while their families experience noticeable relief in challenging situations.

The scholarship opens up new horizons for the young people’s own development. They are out and about with like-minded people who are all motivated and ambitious. The sense of belonging grows and the stigmatization as an orphan, which has burdened many, becomes less important. The young people’s self-esteem increases.

In elementary school, scholarship holders are usually not yet fully aware of their opportunities. In secondary school, however, the importance of support becomes increasingly clear. We observe how each successful graduation is a further motivational boost for the young people. At SCHULBANK, we accompany our scholarship holders carefully and support them as mentors. At the same time, we give them room to be independent – no one is breathing down their necks or exerting pressure.

At the end of the school career – and yes, it can take a long time: 7 years of elementary school, 4 years of lower secondary school, 2 years of upper secondary school, 2 years of university – there can be an enormous sustainable return on education: A career start with the prospect of an income level that is often higher than that of state school graduates without family support.

This educational return has a cross-generational effect: the next generations grow up with a new way of thinking – characterized by confidence, an awareness of opportunities and a belief in their own possibilities.

As part of our scholarship program, we make a promise to scholarship recipients to support them until they start their careers. The majority of our education sponsors also follow this promise. If a first grader is sponsored, a sponsorship can even last up to 15 years. But also the joint achievement of milestones, such as the graduation from high school, can be a nice framework for a sponsorship.

Of course, a sponsor’s financial circumstances may change and lead to an early end of support. We will find a solution for these situations as well. We would just like to ask anyone interested to do some soul-searching before accepting this care and see if there is a willingness for long-term sponsorship. This is the only way we can ensure sustainable operation of the scholarship program.

For almost a decade now, SCHULBANK has managed to keep the sponsorship contribution stable at EUR 40 per month, despite rising school costs and the natural development of pupils into more cost-intensive educational institutions. In individual cases (parents are unable to pay for school clothing), a higher contribution may be paid voluntarily after consultation.

To our sponsors, the exclusive use of their contributions to cover school fees is an important promise. Every payment for a scholarship holder is documented at SCHULBANK and can be viewed by sponsors at any time. All other costs for staff, rent, etc. are covered by one-time donations apart from the sponsorships.

Surely you know the big aid organizations and their child sponsorships. Here, the emotional bond with sponsored children is used to acquire regular donations for larger projects in the village or town of the sponsored child. In return, the sponsors are given the opportunity to make written contact with the sponsored child and in return receive an annual letter of thanks from the sponsored children at Christmas.

Our aim here is not to discredit this approach. Rather, over the past few years, we have learned how sponsors and fellows feel about this “long-distance relationship” and have made decisions based on that.

To summarize briefly: A bspw. A ten-year-old child cannot empathize with the reality of a European’s life and neither can a Tanzanian child.
In addition to frustration, an oppressive feeling remains, especially on the Tanzanian side: shame and the oppressive feeling of always having to adopt an attitude of gratitude towards Western supporters. With decades of support from the Western world, this attitude has become a reflex.

We want to help the young generation to get rid of the feeling of dependency and to devote themselves unreservedly to building their future without feeling like they are in a corset. Therefore, as a link between sponsors and scholarship holders, we now refrain from deliberate contact and establish a rational view of sponsorship as what it can be in the best case: financial care.

We reduce the information for our educational sponsors to the scholastic and health development of the scholarship holder and about the stability of their social environment. Three aspects that we continually review in our mentoring. And when a sponsorship ends, scholarship recipients are always given the opportunity to contact them directly and thank them for their support.

Finally, we would like to mention that educational sponsors are always welcome to visit our office in Iringa, to get their own impression of our work and of course to get to know their protégé accompanied by us.

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How your support works

With their monthly sponsorship contributions, our family members – as we call the supporters of the SCHULBANK family – form the financial foundation of the scholarship program. Shoulder to shoulder with parents, schools, orphanages and other local partners, the school costs are borne jointly. Around half of the education costs are already covered by local participation – we call this solidarity-based aid.

For our supporters, it is a form of educational support where they can directly experience the impact of their commitment – and at the same time accompany it with respectful distance.

At a glance

  • Sponsorship is an assumption of financial care
  • Finances a high-quality education for half and full orphans
  • Sponsorship contributions are used exclusively for school costs
  • Education sponsors bear around 50% of the costs
  • Period of an educational sponsorship is freely selectable
  • Pursue support with appropriate distance
Donate once Become an educational sponsor

Frequently asked questions

Of course. Among other things, the first get-to-know-you phone call serves this purpose. Here you can tell us if you want to use e.g. would like to support a scholarship holder and in which educational step (primary, secondary school, university, etc.) you would like to support.










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