• UCT Online High School has partnered with the insurance provider Sasria SOC to sponsor the studies of 100 learners at the school.
• This comes after initially looking to sponsor 500 learners with partial scholarships as part of its Learning Liberated scholarships programme.
• The deadline to apply for the scholarships has been extended to 17th November 2023.

Amid efforts to sponsor the education of learners from disadvantaged backgrounds, UCT Online High School today announced that it has partnered with public insurer Sasria SOC to provide more learners with financial support scholarships through an investment of over R6 million.

Together, the two will seek to provide 100 academically gifted learners the opportunity to study through partial funding, with the investment going towards paying off 50 percent of the tuition of these learners over a five-year period.

This forms part of UCT’s Learning Liberated scholarships programme, which was launched by the institution in July of this year to provide financial support to high school learners. At launch, the school was looking to partially fund 500 learners from grade 8 to grade 11 and applications for the partial funding closed on 31st October 2023.

Now with Sasria’s financial support, 100 more learners can be added to the programme and the school has extended the application period until 17th November 2023. In a statement, UCT says that more than 8 000 families applied to join the programme and receive partial funding for studies in grade 8 to 11 for the National Senior Certificate (NSC) starting in January 2024.

“At Sasria, we want to expand the reach of quality education to all learners in the country, this is not something that we can do alone. UCT Online High School and its partners have made it easy for us to be part of the solution, and we hope more corporates will come on board,” explained Tshepiso Chocho, Sasria SOC executive manager for “People Management”.

There are certain criteria than need to be met before your application for a partial scholarship is accepted, including:

• Be a South African citizen residing in South Africa,
• Be interested in completing a National Senior Certificate (matric),
• Be age appropriate for entry in grades 8 to 11,
• Achieve 50 percent and above in English Home Language and Mathematics,
• Be in financial need (combined household income cannot exceed R350 000 per year),
• Have aspirations to embark in tertiary studies and must submit a letter detailing these aspirations,
• Have access to a notebook, internet, printer, earphones and a UPS device,
• Have at least one adult that can help you with your time while online learning,
• Submit an application reference letter from your current school,
• Successfully complete a “Scholarship Application Assessment,”
• Submit a letter of motivation,
• and have successfully submitted all the required documents.

The high school scholarships will only cover 50 percent of the tuition fees during five years of studies. All other material must be provided by the student’s family, including required PCs, internet, printer, textbooks and more. UCT says that applications will be reviewed for shortlisting by the end of November 2023 with successful recipients notified in early December 2023. These successful recipients will begin their schooling in January 2024.

“UCT Online High School is currently working with these notable corporate and philanthropic partners to join them in empowering the future of South Africa to make education more accessible to a diverse range of learners who may not afford the full tuition. This approach allows for more efficient distribution of financial aid, supporting a larger number of learners with available funds,” says the institution of the new partnership.

Applications to join the high school scholarships programme are open, and more information can be found here.

[Image – Provided]