Fail And Discontinue
Government will not sponsor students who fail
The Ministry of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology is remodeling the tertiary education financing policy to bring it to par with current economic realities.
The cycle for 2021/22 tertiary education sponsorship for new students is now open and will close on 12 September 2021. But this time it will not be business as usual for many students as the government has taken a decision to discontinue sponsorship for tertiary students who fail.
Firstly, only those who have obtained a minimum of 36 points will be eligible for the scholarship, while those who failed their current class may not get a chance to repeat through government bursary.
In addition, the Minister of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology Dr. Douglas Letsholathebe says because of the tight budget, the government will not be able to entertain any request from students who originally scored less than 36 points but proceeded to tertiary institutions under their parents’ private sponsorship when their parents are no longer able to fund their education.
A request for supplementary funding of over P1.1 billion was made to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, of which just P400 million was required to cater to new students who meet the admission requirements. According to the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Peggy Serame, the funding gap under the Tertiary Education Financing partly occurred as a result of the increase in the number of students awarded sponsorship during the 2019/2020 financial year. This created a backlog of payments to tertiary education institutions, which was carried over to the current financial year. Discussing the rollout of the 2021/22 sponsorship cycle, Letsholathebe underlined the government’s commitment to the training and development of young people in order to generate a pool of human capital that has the expertise and skill to power the economy.
Letsholathebe said his Ministry also finances progression programmes in order to upgrade students from one level of study to the next, such as from Diploma level to Degree level. Letsholathebe said this is intended to close some skills gap and enable students to acquire higher qualifications funds permitting.
However, currently, the Ministry faces a challenge wherein students’ academic performance is poor, resulting in them requiring repeat sponsorship against the already limited budget. “I appeal to you to partner with us in encouraging our students to study diligently such that we minimise repeat sponsorship in view of the need for government to achieve the overall goal of training and development of our young people and also the current budgetary constraints.”
Regarding the special dispensation categories of Orphans and Vulnerable Students (OVC); Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Remote Area Dwellers (RADs) the cut-off point is 31 points, five points lower than the cut-off points of 36. This segment is processed by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development in collaboration with the Ministry of Tertiary education pursuant to Government policies on affirmative action for inclusion and access.
For this placement cycle, online applications will be received through the newly-developed Student Loan Management System e-services module which was launched on 1st June 2021.