Programs

Scholarship Program

The scholarship program covers a full academic year and is renewable year on year subject to a positive recommendation from the SchoolMe selection committee ( SchoolMe's trustees).

Each sponsored student benefits from the support of an appointed mentor in Tunisia. The role of the mentor is to follow closely the progress of the student throughout the whole academic year and ensure help and support are provided whenever needed.

It takes circa 500£ to sponsor a student in Tunisia for the whole academic year. For Tunisian students abroad, the amount depends on the country and level of studies.

The decision of renewing the scholarship is dependent on the sponsored student academic results.

Candidates

The candidates should satisfy the following criteria:

Poor financial background

Preventing the candidate from pursuing her/his studies in normal conditions. For example, the income of the family is less or around the minimum wage in Tunisia.

Desire to succeed

The candidate should demonstrate a real desire to thrive and excel in her/his life. This is assessed through interviewing the candidate (ref: Interview Guide).

Two channels are used to select the candidates:

1. Proactive Approach: the committee members and SchoolMe friends proactively search for students fulfilling SchoolMe selection criteria. This is generally achieved through contacting directly the teachers/headteachers of schools in Tunisia. A short list of names is suggested based on school results and family revenue. SchoolMe committee will then consider the different applications and choose the most appropriate candidates given the budget assigned for the year.
2. Recommendations: SchoolMe friends put forward candidates that fulfil SchoolMe selection criteria in terms of financial background and school results. The charity then collects all the applications and selects the most appropriate candidates.

Mentor

The Mentor is the point of contact between SchoolMe and the sponsored student and is responsible for the day to day running of the scholarship program. The mentor does not get paid and is a fully voluntary role.

During the years covered by the scholarship program, the Mentor is responsible for both the financial and moral support of the student and is also in charge of monitoring the student academic progress and updating SchoolMe quarterly on the student’s results.

The Mentor is fully and legally responsible, towards SchoolMe, of the student’s finances. The mentor has to justify and provide a bill for every single expense made on behalf of the student. The student signature is required for those expenses where bills can’t be issued, e.g. private tuition.

The bills’ log is closely kept by the Mentor and is handed to SchoolMe at the end of the academic year for account checks.

Library Program

Each year, thousands of children in Tunisia are unable to read because of the lack of books. Schools in deprived areas struggle to provide books despite the best efforts in their communities. Through the Book’s Donation Program, SchoolMe collects books from British and French Schools in the UK to donate them to Schools in Tunisia.

In order to participate:

• Fill the library request sheet available below (english /or french)
• Send it to us by email or to one of our trustees