Students want loan conditions reviewed

Tertiary students in Mashonaland West Province are pushing Government to relax supposedly stringent conditions on applying for student loans.

The students raised their concerns to Finance and Economic Development Deputy Minister Terrence Mukupe during a public lecture hosted by the Zimbabwe Congress of Students Union (ZICOSU) at Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT) recently.

Government this year unveiled a $1 billion facility for student loans which will be provided through financial institutions such as ZB, NMB, POSB and CBZ, Eduloans and Getbucks.

While the institutions are expected to meet half the budget, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) will cover the remainder.

A CUT student, Edzai Mufaro, said many students were failing to access the loans.

"Some of us do not even have relatives to guarantee the loans, and even when Government can be cited as guarantor, students failed to benefit from the programme," he said.

"Government should revise the requirements so that everyone has access to education as stipulated by our Constitution."

Other students felt that Government should also consider introducing free education.

Deputy Minister Mukupe said free education was impossible under the current economic conditions.

"It is rather easy for the health sector to provide free health care because there is assistance coming from donor funding, but our economy is not yet stable for the introduction of free education," he said. Government, he said, will revisit some of the requirements, particularly in terms of the collateral needed for the loans.

Government has replaced the cadetship scholarship scheme with the student loan scheme that is designed to cater for underprivileged students.