No scholarships for 70% of new tertiary students - SNUS
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MBABANE – Tough times ahead for students wanting to study at tertiary institutions in the country. Since nearly 100 per cent of students depend on additional financing to study at tertiary institutions, it has been a norm for students to apply for scholarship so that they could finance their education at higher level institutions.
In the past, the government has been assisting students through scholarships to cater for tuition and upkeep.
However, this year, it has been gathered that only about 30 per cent of the students were able to acquire scholarships.
Revealed
This is according to the Swaziland National Union of Students (SNUS) President Colani Maseko, who revealed this.
Maseko revealed this while responding to questions about some applicants who complained that they were not granted scholarships.
Some of the students said this was because their parents, one or both parents, were employed.
A student who said his father was a civil servant said he was denied scholarship after it was discovered that his father was employed in one of the government departments.
He said this was unfair because his father was a single parent.
According to Maseko, he said the union was concerned about the manner in which scholarship applications were being handled.
He said the union was concerned that students were required to produce their parents payslips.
Maseko said everyone deserved to have a scholarship as long as they were accepted in a college. He said this was what they had been advocating for as a union.
The president said it did not make sense that only certain individuals were selected because every person deserved a scholarship.
He said if one was accepted by a college or university, it meant that the person qualified to get a scholarship.
Maseko said this was the reason that in the past, the students marched to various departments, including the Prime Minister’s Office, to advocate that scholarships were for everyone.
“This country has money,” he said.
He said scholarships were a right for every liSwati.
“It is like a loan because the student will pay back when he or she is working,” said Maseko.
He said not granting scholarships to pupils was as if the government was setting up the youth for failure.
Maseko said if the youth did not have scholarships, the chances of being employed were very low.
He also in the past, scholarships were available to many students yet this year, it was only for those who were considered orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC).
He lamented that some were
alot of told that just by looking at their parents’ payslips, they were able to pay for school fees.
He said according to his knowledge, about 70 per cent of school leavers who qualified for scholarships were not granted same.
Maseko said this will result in the increase of drug abuse or even sex work.
lack
He said the lack of scholarships and jobs should be considered a national disaster next to gender-based violence (GBV). Recently, there had been a call to declare GBV a national disaster, but this has not happened.
However, Maseko believes that both GBV and lack of scholarships should both be considered national disasters.
Also, Maseko urged that students should affiliate themselves with SNUS.
He as SNUS, the students would be more organised and would be able to fight for their rights.
“Students should always behind SNUS,” he said.
The president said he was concerned about people who viewed SNUS as having an ulterior motive and that they used students.
“We cannot separate issues of students with politics,” he said.
He said SNUS was not only concerned about the issues of students but also national politics.
confiRmed
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The Minister of Labour and Social Security, Phila Buthelezi, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) of Matsanjeni North Inkhundla, confirmed that only OVCs were granted scholarships.
However, he also said even among the OVCs, some did not get the scholarships because the government did not have the funds to grant everyone who qualified the scholarships.
Buthelezi said there was something the government was doing about the issue so that more people could be accorded scholarships.
He stressed that the main issue was insufficient funds to accommodate everyone.