Africa-Press – Lesotho. The Ministry of Development Planning through the National Manpower Development Secretariat (NMDS) has suspended its policy that requires students to repay 50%
of the Loan Bursary Fund (LBF) before they are awarded another scholarship to further their studies. This was revealed by the Minister of Development Planning Hon.
Selibe Mochoboroane at a press conference last week. In his statement, Hon. Mochoboroane indicated that the objective of suspending the 50% repayment of loans is to
enable access to bursaries for Basotho students in financial need to upskill their education from unemployable degrees to skills developing postgraduate
studies. Hon. Mochoboroane also showed that the need to suspend the 50% repayment is inspired by the requirement to achieve the National Strategic Development Plan II Key Performance Area II of
strengthening human capital to support the productive sectors with the aim of job creation and inclusive economic growth. “The suspension of the loan bursary
repayment requirement before one can be provided the next loan bursary can go a long way to ease unemployment however it will become unsustainable and futile
if provided to every bursary seeking student. The suspension can only be afforded under a rationalized approach. It is important to provide assistance
to Basotho students with absolute financial need intending to pursue programmes identified as priorities in the NSDP II,” Mochoboroane said. He concluded by acknowledging #BachaShutDown
Movement which had a great impact on this decision. On behalf of #BachaShutDown Movement, Lekhooa Letsatsi thanked the ministry for hearing them out as the youth.
He said this move would pose a minus one on the list of the things they had requested the government to undertake. Letsatsi further signposted that since
they have won the bursary battle, they hope implementation will follow. On November 6 2020 #Bachashutdown marched to Parliament to hand a petition which detailed issues around youth
unemployment, NMDS reforms and gender based violence bill among others. NMDS is a department under the Ministry of Development Planning, mandated – through the National Manpower
Development Council Act of 1978 – to provide loan bursaries to deserving Basotho students wishing to pursue higher education and training. The NMDS specifically administers partially reimbursable loan bursaries on behalf of the Government of Lesotho for students pursuing priority fields of study at Tertiary and Vocational schools locally, regionally and internationally.
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