AfricaPress-Tanzania: HIGHER Education Students’ Loan Board (HESLB) on Thursday closed the loan application window for Academic Year 2020/2021 with a total of 92,947 registered applications after extending the deadline for ten days.
At the end of last month, the board extended the application period to provide room for applicants who have not completed their loan application processes to do so.
Initially, the window which was opened on July 21, this year, was to close on August 31, but the board extended the deadline following requests by parents, guardians and students to allow the applicants to complete lodging their applications.
The Board’s Executive Director, Mr Abdul-Razaq Badru, said in Dar es Salaam that the application window was officially closed at midnight on Thursday, noting that new applicants will not have access to the system except for 7,500 applicants whose applications are still online and have not completed the application procedures.
“The application window will be closed officially today at 12:00 midnight, beyond which new applicants will not have access to the system,” Mr Badru said.
He however noted that early next month, HESLB will start sorting out the applications and later release the list of all applications which will not have been filled correctly and allow the applicants to rectify them.
Mr Badru further called upon parents, guardians and students to continue accessing information relating to loans from authentic sources, including HESLB website (www.heslb.go.tz).
HESLB will serve more students next academic year after mobilising sufficient funds for the cause.
The board expects the number of beneficiaries to increase from the previous year’s 132,292 to 145,000 students in the next academic year, representing a 10 per cent rise.
The government, through HESLB, has set aside 464bn/- for 145,000 beneficiaries of whom 54,000 will be first year students and 91,000 for continuing students.
As of August 31, the Board had received 85,921 applications and only 71,888, equal to 84 per cent, had correctly submitted their request forms, Mr Badru said.
“It means they have correct attachments and are filled effectively. The rest of applications (14,033), equal to 16 per cent, are still working on their forms,” he added.
To assist students to correctly fill in their applications, the HESLB embarked on public education whereby 14 regions in Mainland and Zanzibar have already been covered.
The form six leavers, who have been selected to join National Service (JKT) training have reported to 18 camps, affirmed Mr Badru.
According to him, the common mistakes observed during the application processes include failure to attach important documents, mostly personal/applicant birth and parents’ death certificates.
Sometimes, he said, the attached documents are not verified by the relevant authorities, which are the Registration, Insolvency and Trusteeship Agency (RITA) and Zanzibar Civil Status Registration Agency (ZCSRA).
