Malima says the government has taken responsibility of all students who get loans and in case of any complaints the universities should hold the ministry to
Dodoma. The government has ordered universities to stop suspending students for failure to pay fees if such students depend on loans from the State.
The directive was issued in Parliament yesterday by the Deputy Minister for Finance, Mr Adam Malima, when responding to a question by Ms Suzan Lyimo (Special Seats-Chadema). Ms Lyimo noted when asking the question that some students at St Joseph University in Dar es Salaam have been kicked out because they had not paid fees.
She blamed the government for this as the students depended on the loans to pay the fees and the government delayed the money.
Mr Malima said the government has taken responsibility of all students who get loans and in case of any complaints the universities should hold the ministry to account.
“We have already notified the universities that they should stop penalising the students because the Ministry of Finance has taken the entire responsibility to ensure that their payments are being made,” she said.
Mr Malima said it was true that in the recent past the government delayed to release the loans to students and that occurred after the government experienced shocks in revenue collections.
In another development, the Deputy Minister for Education and Vocational Training, Ms Anne Kilango-Malecela, said demonstrations and strikes by university students have diminished in recent years.
thanks to implementation of recommendations by Prof Maboko Commission.
She said that from the recommendations, the government made several changes within the Higher Education Students Loans Board and Universities to streamline processing of loans for students.
“For instance, each university has been ordered to employ a liaison officer who will specifically deal with students loans... the Higher Education Students Loans Board also employed appropriate people, with right qualifications,” she said.
