Challenge:Female students strandedKigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) is faced with an acute shortage of accommodation facilities for female students, an issue that has forced its management to come up with a campaign to fundraise to build a Rwf 1.8 billion hostel.KIST was established in 1997 with 209 students. Over time, the student population has steadily grown to the current 3,000. According to the management, the Institution can only accommodate 450 female and male students with only 312 female presently accommodated at the institution.Once the four storey female hostel building is complete, it would house 576 girls.The administration said that over 2,000 students are accommodated by their guardians while others rent private hostels outside the institution’s premises, a situation the administration says mostly affects the academic performance of female students besides being faced by other hostile circumstances. The Rector of KIST, Dr. Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya, said lack of accommodation has forced many female students to encounter problems, even forcing some to defer their studies."There exists an acute shortage of students’ accommodation facilities…many day students are forced to rent private accommodation. This is indeed a barrier to the desired academic atmosphere, and poses a great challenge that needs to be addressed if KIST is to continue attracting more female students to pursue science based courses, she said” The situation, she said, is likely to get out of hand since the university was expanding by almost 1,000 students per year which implies that in the next five years, the institution could have a student population of over 10,000. She, however, expressed optimism saying that since Kigali is a fast growing city, more hostels would be constructed to contain the situation.She noted that students are also often abused and exploited by relatives or community members with whom they stay, adding that overcrowding and lack of transport negatively impact on their academic performance. She observed that once the female hostel is put up, it would facilitate them to have a good attitude towards their studies.Mujawamariya said the institution has a kitty of only Rwf400 million and wants to raise the rest from well wishers. Well wishers wishing to contribute towards the development can make their donations through the Bank of Kigali account number: 00040-0371478-0.