Africa-Press – Lesotho. National Manpower Development Secretariat (NMDS) has committed to review the 1978 Loan Bursary Fund (LBF) policy. The Ministry of Development Planning and NMDS officials gathered at the three day reforms
forum, where stakeholders were to review and validate the LBF policy. The policy was established in 1978 along with the NMDS Act and the LBF Regulations.
It was then the successor of two schemes; Sethaba-thaba Fund (SF) that was run during pre-independence and Higher Education Fund which was implemented after
independence. These schemes were deemed unsustainable due to increasing demands versus non-collection and investments methods. Speaking at the LBF policy
validation forum, the Minister of Development Planning Hon. Selibe Mochoboroane indicated that the LBF policy, which is 43 years has been followed to fund
scholarships to date, he said that the policy is very outdated hence the challenges that make it to remain the greatest dilemma. “We have realized that this
ancient policy is the root of challenges that keep rising, it also blocks a way for improvement to other scholarship provisions. This is why the ministry took
into consideration to re-structure the policy together with NMDS, which works directly with these loan bursary funds,” Mochoboroane enlightened. He furthered that the
expectation is to have relevant structures that match the 21st century and the new law which will also include improved NMDS’ office. The Minister noted that the reforms will see an improved systematic operation
within the bursary sector, saying that they anticipate to form an independent LBF, which will enable Basotho development in providing scholarships as to speed up
services. He urged all relevant stakeholders to come-up with fruitful strategies that will benefit Basotho with scholarships that will last for a longer
time. For her part, NMDS Director Florina Ntsane informed that the National Human Resources Development Policy (NHRDP) requires Lesotho to develop inclusive and equitable education in order for her citizens to obtain ample
pool of economic capacity competency. She pointed out that this calls for improving and aligning the LBF, as a vehicle for financial interventions for
higher education. “The policy performance shall be monitored annually upon its approval and commencement of its implementation. The fund shall develop a periodic strategic plan to run for a period of five years out
of which annual implementation plans at the beginning of every fiscal year will be developed and executed to operationalize the strategic plans. Therefore, the
annual implementation plans will become a tool to monitor the policy performance,” Ntsane explained. NMDS Director also stipulated that the policy shall then be evaluated after every five years to determine a need
for amending and transforming it if need arise. She stated that the review will be done using the strategic plans as the evaluation tool and therefore at the end of every five
years term, a review of that strategic plan will be undertaken and another five years’ plan will be drawn, thereby enabling formulation of a new policy which will address the needs of the then generation.
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