Africa-Press – Eswatini. Minister of Labour and Social Security Phila Buthelezi says the ministry will start paying all student allowances by month end.
This comes in the wake of protests by Kwaluseni students who are demanding the personal and book allowances to paid to them by government. Despite being assured by the principal secretary last week, students have vowed not to return to class until their allowances are paid.
The minister reassured the students during a press conference yesterday afternoon that as they had communicated last week, the ministry was working on the matter with other relevant ministries. He said they were finalising the payments adding that from next Monday students, would be getting their money. He urged students to be calm as engaging in protests would not create any magic this week. The ministry last week notified students that they would get their allowances at the end of the month.
Buthelezi noted, however, that only ongoing students would be getting their allowances not first years.
“The ministry will not be able to pay first year students at the end of the month because tertiary institutions have not yet sent invoices to the ministry to begin the payment process,” he said.
The minister reminded tertiary institutions to quickly bring the invoices to the ministry so that the first year students could also be paid very soon. Buthelezi noted that the country’s tertiary institutions did not only have government-sponsored students but there were self or private-sponsored too. He said the protest and the vandalising of property was unfair to self-sponsored students.
He pleaded with government-sponsored students to exercise patience. The minister said the issue of study loans was not entirely the responsibility of the ministry of labour and social security but there were other ministries such as the ministry of finance and that of education and training.
“It is unfortunate that student spent most of their time on the streets protesting than in class,” he said. He said government was not happy with the violent way adopted by students when addressing issues as it had outside influence.
He condemned political parties for perpetrating the uncouth behaviour saying they were killing the future of students. Buthelezi said the burning of schools and protests were a threat to the future of children.
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The minister also announced a grace period for students studying in local institutions who wanted to apply for government scholarships. He said the reason for the grace period was that the ministry learnt that after they closed the application process last year in November, there were Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) aspiring students who were still writing their examinations thus the grace period for them from next Monday until Friday.
Going forward, Buthelezi said, the ministry would resume working by the book when issuing study loans. He mentioned that over the years, the ministry had issued scholarship to PGCE student loans while the payment of the previous loans were still pending. “Going forward, the ministry will offer loans to post graduate students who have completed paying for their previous scholarships,” he said. He said students should understand that study loans were a privilege.
He disclosed that the study loan award was at 91 per cent when compared to the application received this current financial year. “This shows how much effort is put by government in ensuring that Emaswati have access to education,” he said.
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