Repeat sponsorship not sustainable – Letsholathebe
Pini Bothoko | Tuesday August 16, 2022 06:00
As government continues with efforts to develop human capital through awarding of sponsorships, beneficiaries have been challenged to make full use of this opportunity.
The Minister of Education and Skills Development, Douglas Letsholathebe made the remarks during the recent press conference on tertiary education financing that was held at the Department of Tertiary Education Financing's (DTEF) Cherry Hall. Letsholathebe revealed that government pays about P60 million every month as living allowances for tertiary education-sponsored beneficiaries.
He further stated that over the five past years, the ministry has spent on average P2.4 billion on an annual basis catering for both tuition and students’ living allowances.
“Out of this budget, 59% is allocated towards tuition whilst 41% covers allowances. Be that as it may, the funds are limited as compared to the huge number of people who seek to be sponsored for tertiary education,” he said.
The minister said the loan scheme is heavily subsidised as it covers payment of full tuition and different types of allowances to government-sponsored students depending on the category of the awarded sponsorship.
He added that these allowances cover among other things such as living expenses, books, stationery, specialised equipment, and protective clothing. However, Letsholathebe added that all sponsored students are expected to complete their studies within the prescribed period of study.
He said whilst the ministry recognises that students may not do well in their studies due to various reasons, it should be noted that re-sponsorship is not automatic. He further stated that government managed to secure P100 million for re-sponsorship and progression. Nonetheless, Letsholathebe said this amount is not even enough to cater for all who want re-sponsorship.
“That means progression is not covered altogether. This follows another achievement in which government availed the sum of P90.5 million towards increasing the students' living allowances for locally and externally placed students,” he said.
The minister added that they have embarked on transforming and improving tertiary education financing processes to achieve improved efficiency, customer service as well as an added convenience to their service experience.
Further, he stated that digitalisation has been embraced fully to help them achieve such, stating that the ministry designed and implemented an online or e-services platform for the delivery of tertiary education financing.
He said in this regard, the 2022-2023 sponsorship cycle was implemented through the new e-services platform and as a result they achieved a big milestone by reducing turnaround time on the processing of tertiary education applications for sponsorship from the initial four months to just two to three weeks. Letsholathebe revealed that this brought about greater customer satisfaction and convenience, and the ministry has also saved costs on recruiting additional staff and materials to operate application centres, something that was previously a norm. “The ministry also discontinued the quota system, effectively enabling the applicants to place themselves at their institution of choice,” Letsholathebe said.