Africa-Press – Tanzania. HIGHER Education Students’ Loan Board (HESLB) has released the fourth batch of 5,003 first-year students who have been allocated loans totaling 11.6bn/- for the academic year 2021/2022, which began this week.
HESLB Executive Director Abdul-Razaq Badru briefed reporters in Dar es Salaam on Friday that the total number of first-year beneficiaries has now reached 65,359, with loans totaling 168.9bn/-.
“This fourth list has 5,003 beneficiaries who can access their Student’s Individual Permanent Account (SIPA) and acquire more information at any moment from now,” Mr Badru said at a press conference held at HESLB’s Dar es Salaam offices.
Mr Badru went on to say that 1,133 of the 65,359 recipients are orphans who have lost both parents; 9,450 are maternal or paternal orphans; 198 are students with disabilities; 2,919 were financed by various institutions for their secondary education, and 51,559 came from low-income families.
“These results demonstrate the government’s commitment to empower young people from low-income families,” he added, noting that female beneficiaries made up 41 per cent of the 65,359 recipients while males made up 59 per cent.
At the same time, Mr Badru stated that HESLB was completing the payment of 74,440 beneficiaries who are continuing their studies after getting their examination results verifying their progress.
“We have over 98,000 beneficiaries who are continuing students , and we have received the results of the 74,440 students who passed up until October 29, 2021, and we will begin releasing money today,” Mr Badru stated.
The next step, according to Mr Badru, will be the opening of an appeal window on November 6, 2021, for students who are dissatisfied with existing loan rates to file applications for loan extensions.
According to him, some applicants were denied funding due to a variety of mistakes they made during the application process, including failing to sign their forms, verifying their certificates with the Registration Insolvency and Trusteeship Agency (RITA), and failing to attach some crucial documents.
“By the 20th of November, we hope to be finished with appeals and have already released the names of the fifth batch’s beneficiaries.” “We advise all candidates who have concerns to review their applications and determine if there are any issues that need to be addressed,” he said.
In another development, Mr Badru stated that HESLB officials are organising sessions with first-year college students to educate them on payment methods and to address any concerns that may emerge.
The government deposited an additional 70bn/- into the Students Loans Board in June of this year for the fiscal year 2021/2022.
The decision to provide more funds, according to Finance and Planning Minister Dr Mwigulu Nchemba, is targeted at enabling all eligible students with admission to various higher education learning institutions to obtain loans for their studies.
The 70bn/- is in addition to the 500bn/- allocated for the ministry of Education, Science and Technology to be spent by the Higher Education Students Loans Board on loaning 148,881 beneficiaries in the next financial year, including 50,250 first-year students and 98,331 continuing students.
Winding up the government budget for the coming financial year in the National Assembly, Dr Nchemba said the money has been added as mitigation to an experience of the last academic year, where around 11,000 students postponed their studies after missing the allocations from HESLB, despite meeting all the criteria.
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