Africa-Press – Botswana. The Ministry of Higher Education will not be able to adjust student allowances to P2 500 during the current financial year, says Minister Prince Maele.
“This however, does not mean the idea of adjusting student allowances for tertiary education had been abandoned,” he said at the launch of 2025/2026 Tertiary Education Financing Sponsorship Cycle in Gaborone on Wednesday.
However, he confirmed that effective August, allowances for brigades and technical colleges students would be increased from P300 to P1 900 to align with the current allowances for other tertiary students.
Mr Maele said in fulfillment of the government policy on Orphans and Destitute, the Remote Area Development Programme and the Affirmative Action Framework of inclusiveness, the ministry had mainstreamed special dispensation initiatives into sponsorship programming.
“Therefore, the orphaned and vulnerable, those residing in remote and difficult to reach areas, as well as those with special educational needs, will be accommodated with five points less than the ordinary cut off point of 36, meaning their cut-off point too will be maintained at 31 points,” said Minister Maele.
Currently, the minister said there were a total of 40 890 students sponsored by government across the 54 local Education and Training Providers.
He also cautioned that there were some programmes that were oversubscribed such as finance, business and management among others.
Therefore, he encouraged prospective students to inform themselves on future skills and future jobs and explore other programmes to make informed choices on their programmes of study.
“This will enable you to be productive in both the local and the world economy upon completion of your studies,” he said.
He emphasised that tertiary education financing was one of the key government priorities toward improving the quality of life through investments in education, health and social welfare.
“I need not emphasise that Botswana aspires for an economy that is vibrant, efficient, innovative and knowledge based with access to a skilled and internationally competitive workforce.
“You will agree with me that we can only achieve this by investing in our young ones through education,” he added.
He said the move was demonstration of the value that government attaches to human resource development.
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