MUST offers scholarships to 50 genius young innovators

Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST) has offered 51 scholarships to young innovators, some of them are in primary schools.

This includes a 23-year-old Zomba student who has made a wi-fi using locally available resources.

Stewart Nankhumwa, a form four student at High Profile Private School in Zomba made the wi-fi antenna that uses internet connectivity without using airtime or data bundle.

“I hope to advance my innovation skills with this scholarship,” said Nankhumwa who is among 50 other students who have received scholarships to study at MUST.

The recipients also include Tomaida Banda, a standard 7 school girl at Chipoza Primary School in Traditional Authority Santhe in Kasungu, and Innocent Mandiri, a form four student at Chigoneka Community Day Secondary School in Lilongwe.

Banda invented a fan constructed from local materials and uses phone batteries to function while Mandiri inverted a water level detector from local and used materials.

Mandarin said the equipment can detect water levels during the rainy season, hence alerting people of possible flooding.

Presenting the scholarships at MUST in Thyolo, Vice Chancellor for the university, Address Malata, said innovation is vital for the social economic development of any nation.

Malata, therefore, urged people in the country to assist in nurturing the skills of innovators.

“We want to protect the innovators and add value to their innovations for commercialisation.

“We know that some of them may not necessarily make it to university, but we want to still cherish their ability to come up with ideas that can help this nation in every sector,” Malata said.

The innovators are learners from primary and secondary schools and were identified through social media among other platforms.

Under the scholarships, the students will be attending talent and innovation programmes at the university during holidays.

The grants, which will run for two years, also covers their tuition fees in primary and secondary school.