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Graduate students want HESLB to disburse loans on time
2005-10-21 07:58:32
By Rachel Mkundai
Graduate students in local universities want the Higher Education Students’ Loans Board (HESLB) to disburse loans on schedule instead of waiting for them to strike.
Speaking to the Press in Dar es Salaam yesterday, the students’ Minister for Post-Graduate and Students’ Affairs at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Rasel Madaha, said postgraduate students would not like to resort to boycotting classes like the undergraduates did recently to force the board to carry out its duties.
’We don’t want to boycott classes to exert pressure on the board to pay us, but we request them to disburse the loans in good time. After all, we shall repay the money, so we should not be made to beg for it,’ he said.
The students told HESLB to explain why it gives post-graduate students loans for tuition fees only and omit essentials such as stationery, accommodation, subsistence and research.
Madaha said the government’s position regarding the loans stipulates that all students who secure admission to either public or private universities, postgraduate students included, are entitled to the loans.
We are at a loss regarding the board’s decision to give partial loans for tuition, whereas Parliament has set aside enough money for 33,000 potential applicants.
If all were to get loans, each applicant would get an average of 3.5m/-, he pointed out.
He argued that guideline number six of HESLB states that applicants for the loans should not have any other financial assistance.
He appealed to the government to intervene and help graduate students get their loans.
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