UNIVERSITY STUDENTS GET BACK MEAL ALLOWANCES
MEAL allowances for university students have been reintroduced and Government has allocated K930.2 million to the Higher Education Loans and Scholarship Board that will also enable cover meal allowances.
Finance and National Planning Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane, presenting the national budget yesterday said Government would re-introduce meal allowances in public universities.
On Wednesday, Members of Parliament rejected a private member’s motion to extend a government loan scheme to private universities that would have seen students in those learning institutions benefit from the government’s loan schemes.
“Government places high premium on education. I have allocated K930.2 million to the Higher Education Loans and Scholarship Board. I am pleased to state that this allocation will cater for student bursaries and the reintroduction of student meal allowances in line with the promises of the new dawn administration,” Dr Musokotwane said.
Dr Musokotwane also announced that Government had increased Constituency Development Fund (CDF) from K25.7 million to K28.3 Million.
He said Government had proposed to increase the allocation to the CDF to K4.4 billion, an increase of K401 million from this year’s allocation. “This means that each constituency will now get K28.3 million, an increment of K2.6 million,” he said.
Meanwhile, Dr Musokotwane said government would reform the FISP programme and transform it to Comprehensive Agriculture Support Programme which will ensure that only targeted and deserving beneficiaries received subsidised fertilisers.