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Varsity loans board short of basic lessons
2005-10-01 09:29:34
By Emmanuel Kihaule
Confusion reigned at the Higher Education Scholarship and Loans Board (HESLB) yesterday as university students from all universities in the country camped at the board’s offices in Dar es Salaam to follow up their loan applications.
An on-spot check by The Guardian found that, although new semesters have already started at all universities in the country, a majority of the students were yet to get the loans.
Others had been given the loans but the money fell far short of what they had applied for.
Our investigations also found that the process of applying for the loans is still cumbersome as students spend a lot of time processing the documents at the board’s offices and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education.
A students’ leader at the Tumaini University, Dar es Salaam campus, told The Guardian that HELSB had agreed to meet students on Wednesday this week to straighten out things. However, the meeting was cancelled without reasons being given, neither was the agenda disclosed to the students.
Despite last week’s assurance by the Minister for Science, Technology and Higher Education, Dr Pius Ng’wandu, that the government had simplified the process, it failed to pass the credibility test after students complained that the process remains cumbersome and time wasting.
For instance, some students from up country have been camping in Dar es Salaam for weeks and by yesterday, there was no hope that the money would be going their way.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, some students blamed the board for what they described as ’utter disorganisation and professionalism”, which they said had resulted in delays in loans disbursement.
’The officials are confused and are unable to respond to our inquiries; there is no co-ordination’, a Dar es Salaam-based Institute of Finance Management student complained.
A Tumaini University student complained that his name had been omitted from the list of successful applicants, although the board had informed him that his money had already been deposited in the bank.
’When I went to check at the bank, there was no money on the account. No explanation has been given for the omission,’ the student, whose account is with the National Microfinance Bank, Kariakoo branch, lamented.
A University of Dar es Salaam third year law student questioned the criteria used to give the loans.
For example, he said, a majority of UDSM students were given 400,000/-, whereas most Tumaini University students got 900,000/-. Many others missed out on the loans.
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