Retaking students should not be seen to be a burden to government. Everyone trembles and falls,” he told Mmegi yesterday.
The Ministry of Education has stopped sponsoring final year UB students who have been ordered to repeat. The decision means that the students will have to sponsor themselves to complete their studies.
“We are all talking youth empowerment. The economy cannot grow without empowering its people. Jobs are difficult to come by especially when you are young and uneducated,” said Sedimo. He lamented that most youth are financially incapacitated and the economic situation is tight. He said it would be difficult for the youth who are disadvantaged by the decision to progress in life.
The UB Student Representative Council (SRC) reads mischief in the decision. SRC president David Olatotse said the decision has been taken in a hurry with the intention to penalise students who were supposed to have completed their programmes. The SRC contends that the ministry has failed to take into consideration “certain factors” that affects students’ academic performance. He said that UB’s new semesterisation programme is responsible for poor performance of students.
He asserted that semesterisation made learning very difficult for most students. “This insensitive decision was taken in a hurry under the pretext of punishing the students who were supposed to have completed,” he charged yesterday.
He expressed fears that most of the affected students will not complete their studies because they cannot afford the fees.
Tonota College of Education (TCE) SRC vice president Ratanang Baleseng said it is unfortunate the government made the decision without proper consultations with stakeholders. “Though we are currently not affected, we fear for our academic life in Botswana’s tertiary institutions,” he said.
Retaking students are in agreement that the decision is bad for them. “If it was, they should have communicated to us in advance. I have been caught unaware, where will my parents get the money,” cried Mookodi Nthebolang, a retaking student doing Diploma in Social Work.
Others argue that the Ministry of Education has breached a memorandum of agreement with the students. The agreement says that costs and expenses incurred by the government during a repeat period shall be added to the student’s loan. “If this is a cost-sharing measure, it should have been communicated to us well in advance,” said Onkemetse Mphaphi, a retaking Diploma in Statistics student. “I was only notified last week. You can imagine the financial hardships this has brought to my father,” she said.
A senior official at the Department of Student Placement and Welfare (DSPW) told Mmegi yesterday that only those with a retake load of less than 15 credits will be eligible for sponsorship.
He could not be drawn into discussing the amount that government has spent on repeaters.
Information reaching Mmegi indicates that the amount runs into millions of Pula and government has decided to completely stop sponsoring repeating students in the next academic year.
“Repeat sponsorship is not automatic. In fact, in the next academic year (2006/07), repeating students will have to incur their academic costs and expenses,” said an insider who preferred anonymity.
He admitted that government has been violating the memorandum of agreement with students. “The agreement says you should study diligently to complete the programme of study within the time prescribed for such programme, but we have been lenient,” he said.
The decision comes after government announced that cost-sharing will start in primary and secondary schools and technical colleges in January 2006.
