Very cool... but... if education in the region is not affordable for many, and a minority of students begin to get subsidized, is it not in a way helping to support an unsustainable situation? The system now has less pressure to adapt to poorer students because it is getting paid into.
I think efforts like this are probably very rewarding and draw good attention, but ultimately the change needs to happen more systemically.
Education is the basis for all change. Without education, change is impossible. The students who get support for their school are in no way worse off than others who don't get help, even if their studies don't help them get a good job.
Practically I believe the individual outcome will be of two kinds: a student will use their schooling to help their village, start a business and bring a small amount of improvement. Or they will leave the area and find work elsewhere. Neither is unsustainable. The worst outcome would be if everyone leaves and the village dies out. Could that happen? Maybe. But I think it is unlikely. Or at least, I think that education is unlikely going to be a major factor, because even without education people from villages move to cities to seek their fortune.
And while this is pure speculation, I'd like to believe that people with education are more likely to stay because thanks to ubiquitous internet they have more opportunities to use that education to their advantage even from their remote location.
Systematic change will happen when more people with better education move into the ranks of government or business where they can affect such change.
Btw: when I talk about education I don't just mean STEM. I also mean ethics or moral education to teach people that contributing to society is important. Sponsoring students does not achieve that on its own, but it's something others are working on, and these students tend to be grateful for the help they get that they also get the message in a way and are motivated to pay it forward.
Interesting point. What do you envision a systemic effort looking like in this case?
In my mind there are serious barriers to systemic change in a place like a rural village in Tanzania. In many ways the place is systemically stuck in a state of stagnation due largely to outside forces that the people there cannot control.
My thought is that by providing education to the kids, you can give them the ability to assess and change their environment in a way that they otherwise couldn't. I think that will lead to positive change.
That’s EA entering the chat, arguing that all currently available ways of helping are ineffective and until there is an effective way to help is found, they are absolved from helping.
And since they are one day planning to help, they must maximize wealth in the interim. Obviously this wealth maximization can take unorthodox paths because ends justify the means.
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