Education Minister apologises for Tertiary Education Loans Scheme muck up
Minister for Education Aseri Radrodro has apologised for the confusion surrounding the extension of the Tertiary Education Loans Scheme (TELS) to include Foundation Studies. In a statement released last night, he said the Cabinet papers on the issue was unclear which resulted in the confusion and subsequent incorrect Government statements issued. “The cabinet decision sought by MOE (Ministry of Education) on the 18th of January was to reinstate the TSLS funding for students who had completed and passed their Foundation studies and had achieved the set GPA required which was an equivalent of Form 7 cut off marks of 250/400 marks and above,” Mr Radrodro said.
“The Cabinet paper, however, did not express the above in clear terms, resulting in some confusion and incorrect statements issued from the Government, which MOE sincerely regrets.”
In the recent Cabinet meeting held this week, he said the ministry had sought clarifications and correction of the said assistance.
He said they were advised to submit the changes through a revised paper, which they would submit at the next cabinet meeting. “It is important to note that Year 13 or Form 7 is provided free for secondary studying and students are encouraged to utilise these programme otherwise there will be a huge loss to schools as students opt for Foundation studies which will be an additional budgetary cost to Government,” he said.
“In line with the said policy, the MOE is also advising schools to take all their Form 7 students who pass and not set any cut off mark which is pushing students to alternatively seek tertiary education or Foundation. “The coalition Government’s intention is to make education accessible and affordable to all students/parents and guardians in Fiji. Just as we’ve repealed certain policies like the zoning and the three school terms, the removal of cut off marks for students to progress to Form 7 will ensure no student is discriminated against and the burden on parents of having to send their children to alternative schools, where they spend on different uniforms etc for Form 7, because they don’t make the cutoff mark may no longer be an issue.” He stressed that the ministry regretted any inconvenience caused to students, parents, and guardians.