Direct Aid believes that education represents the core of any society and economic development. Since its establishment, Direct Aid has been dedicated to help develop and support the most needy societies in Africa in the field of education in many aspects such as establishing and building schools and universities, providing full support to students through multiple programs such as educational loan programs for university students. Direct Aid has observed a huge dropout of students after completing the basic education stages because of the high tuition fees of higher education, and this has led many African countries to almost cut-off graduates at an early age from society development rather than finding proper roles to participate in economic and social growth. That is why Direct Aid supports outstanding students with limited income, to continue their higher education through offered scholarships and educational loan programs launched by the association since 2018.
In 2018, Direct Aid started implementing the educational loan program at AlUmmah University in Kenya, in cooperation with the African Endowment for Education and Development Foundation, and at Simad University in Somalia, in cooperation with Premier Bank to manage the provision of financial support to students, where the student pays part of the tuition fees in each semester, and the program covers the remaining amount in the form of a no-interest loan, provided that the beneficiary students settle the loan within three years after their graduation. In addition, Direct Aid focuses on teaching the values of volunteering and community service among students through the implementation of several educational and volunteer activities for students to gain job skills during their period of study.
The program includes a combination of small partial grants and refundable loans according to each student’s ability and academic excellence. The program faced some challenges in terms of a decrease in the number of applicants, in addition to defaulting on payments in some cases, but Direct Aid, in cooperation with the partners, was able to find solutions to these problems, including but not limited to, increasing marketing activity between the university and the partner entity to attract the largest number of student applicants, with setting up deadlines for submitting applicants documents and paying fees at the university. In addition to continuous communication and follow-up with students to identify the problems from early stages and try to help them overcome any.
It is worth noting that the program achieved outstanding results from its launch in 2018 until the end of 2022. The total number of benefiting students has reached 1,306 male and female students, from which 690 students attend AlUmmah University in Kenya, and 616 students at Simad University in Somalia, with a total value of about 2 million US dollars, with an average payback percentage of almost 93%. The studying majors of the beneficiary students varied between business administration, economics, Islamic studies, nursing, computer science, engineering, law, and medicine in order to support the empowerment of African society by providing the labor market with qualified graduates to contribute to the development of their societies in the future.
Many doctors, engineers, business administrators, teachers, and others have graduated from the program. Dr Efraj Abdullah Sharif for example, a fresh graduate from the Faculty of Medicine, tells the story of the sponsorship program by Direct Aid saying:
“I come from a poor family that cannot pay tuition expenses for me to study medicine, but driven by my desire to study medicine, I tried my best to obtain this scholarship. When I heard that Direct Aid help provide scholarships to the distinguished poor, I hurried to submit my papers and I prayed that Allah will open a door for me to fulfill my dream, and on the day I received the acceptance guarantee letter my heart was filled with joy, and my family was very happy as it removed the tuition fees stress of their shoulders and they did not have to worry about it anymore”.
Dr Efraj continues “ One of the biggest challenges throughout the studying period that was not taken into account was maintaining the highest grades in classes in order not to have the program canceled, and the pressure was increased by my family. But I immediately realized how lucky and special I was for Allah to grant me this special opportunity, so I expelled all the negative ideas that worried me and focused fully to achieve my dream in completing medicine school. I also want to send special thanks to my sponsor for helping encourage me throughout my studying period”.