Over-enrolment leaves 3,000 UNZA students ‘stranded’

Sat, 01 Jul 2017 11:55:29 +0000

By ANNIE ZULU

A LOT of first-year students at the University of Zambia were left out on the initial allocation of loans because the university over-enrolled the number of applicants to the loans and scholarships board for sponsorship, Higher Education Minister Professor Nkandu Luo said.

Prof Luo said Government had budgeted to support only 2,000 students at the university, however the university over-enrolled the students to the tune of 5,434.

She said this in a ministerial statement in Parliament on Thursday.

“This year’s sponsorship programme has been riddled with a number of challenges that saw a number of applicants at the University of Zambia left out on the allocations of loans.

“Government budgeted to support only 2,000 students at the university, but 5,434 were enrolled to the loans and scholarships board for sponsorship. “When the list of the first 2,009 students was released, it caused acrimony and despair among students that were left out,” Pro Luo said.

She, however, stated that Government had managed to sponsor 3,050 first year students at the university after thorough scrutiny of the applications.

“My Ministry decided as an initial measure to loosely interrogate the list submitted by the university and it was discovered that out of this list of 5,439 students, 1,028 students were already in the system as having been previously sponsored and were therefore not eligible for Government support in the 2016/2017 academic year.

“Another 428 students were non-school leavers that had completed school before 2013 and were therefore also not eligible for consideration.

“We also had 511 students who were appearing on the CBU list of sponsored students and this left a total number of 3, 983 eligible school leavers for consideration. My ministry identified the eligible students and engaged the Ministry of Finance in order to find a solution to this problem,” she said

Pro Luo also assured that Government would continue to strive to be pro-poor and support vulnerable leaners financially.

She said education was not only an economic equalizer that reduced inequalities in society but also key to national development.

The minister urged students that had been offered sponsorship to desist from vices that would hinder their studies, but apply themselves fully in the academic programmes at the university.

Meanwhile, Prof Luo has revealed that Government was on course with regard to the implementation of the loan scheme to be launched next year.

She said her ministry had achieved a lot in ensuring that all requisite measures were put in place for an efficient loan administration and recovery system.