Free scholarship recipients struggle to eke living
Lesedi Mkhutshwa | Monday May 1, 2023 06:00
Moiketsi revealed this in an interview with Mmegi after the ninth national tertiary Institutions roadshow launch ,which was held recently at Galo Mall in Francistown.
The road show comprises 19 tertiary institutions that have grouped themselves to travel around the country as a unit in order to take their services to Botswana General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE) holders, especially current Form 5 leavers.
The event is aimed at creating equal opportunities for all applicants who cannot afford to travel to cities due to various economic and social reasons. Moeketsi said they are trying to engage other stakeholders to support students on free scholarships.
Currently the scholarship offered by the institutions covers tuition fees only, he added. He indicated that unlike government sponsored students, free scholarship recipients are struggling to support themselves as they do not have a living allowance. “We have engaged the Department of Tertiary Education Financing (DTEF) on the matter, seeking their assistance in sponsoring the recipients with living allowance.
The same organisation maintained that they only sponsor students who meet their requirements including government cut-off points,” he said. He stated that they have also engaged other relevant stakeholders on the matter and hoped there would be a positive outcome. According to the roadshow committee chairperson, they have awarded 15 free scholarships to deserving beneficiaries at a tune of about P2.7 million last year. He added that two scholarships were not utilised because the recipients did not qualify for the selected sponsored programmes.
Additionally, the road show committee then used about P2.5 million to sponsor the remaining 13 qualified students. He stated that this year they are going to sponsor eleven students with close to P1 million which is a significant drop of about P1.5 million. He explained that the scholarship tuition coverage has decreased because they have introduced certificate programmes in their initiatives.
“In the past, beneficiaries received scholarships on diploma and degree programmes. We have upgraded to offering certificates so that the recipients will be able to apply for progression.
This will give them a chance to be sponsored by the government and receive both tuition and living allowance,” he said. The tertiary institution road show initiative has benefited over 5,000 students who have been admitted into tertiary education through their collective effort to transform this country into a knowledge based economy.