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Govt plans targeted university scholarships

GOvernment has disclosed that it will introduce targeted scholarships and loans in the public universities to ensure that higher education is accessible by students from poor families.

Minister of   Education, Science and Technology Eunice Kazembe told Parliament on Monday that although the current fees in the country’s tertiary education were heavily subsidised, many students can still not afford the tuition and upkeep costs to stay in the university.

“As cost-sharing will be incorporated into funding strategies for higher education sector, it will be accompanied by targeted scholarships or loans. Scholarships and other forms of financial aid will be targeted and rationalised to meet the goals of equity and efficiency,” she said.

Kazembe observed that while university students are claiming that they cannot afford the current levels of school fees at university level, almost 60 percent of them entered the university from private schools where they were paying higher tuition fees.

“It is clear that the majority of students in our public universities can afford the current levels of tuition and can sustain themselves,” she added.

She said to find lasting solutions to the persistent problems, government has set up a task force under the National Council of Higher Education to come up with strategies of ensuring that public universities are run efficiently and effectively.

Kazembe said the task force will also review the outsourcing of catering and other support services.

Currently, government sponsored students pay K55 000 (about US$173) and self sponsored-students pay K250 000 (about US$786) annually as tuition, but Kazembe said, it costs almost K1.2 million (US$3144) or higher per year to offer education services to one student.

At the same time government sponsored students are paid K40 000 (US$126) per month towards their living expenses and K30 000 (US$94) for book and stationery allowance.

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