Tahliso, TCU demand swift issuing of loans to students

Tanzania Commission for Universities (TCU)

Tanzania Higher Learning Institutions Students Organisation (Tahliso) and Tanzania Commission for Universities (TCU) have called on the government to swiftly address the issue of loans for students studying in the country’s higher learning institutions.

Tahliso Commissioner of Relations and congresses, Thomas Jackson made the appeal in Dar es Salaam during a one-day meeting which brought together representatives from Tahliso, Higher Education Students’ Loan Board (HESLB) and Tanzania Commission for Universities (TCU).

The first-ever meeting between Tahliso, TCU and HESLB was meant to extensively discuss the challenges facing higher learning students.
Jackson appealed for the government to immediately take major steps to address the challenges, claiming that many higher learning institutions lack good curricula.

According to him, most of the curricula do not comply with the fast changing world.

“Many higher learning institutions do not conduct regular reviews of their curricula which we see are ineffective especially in the fast technological growing world we live in,” Jackson said.

He explained that loans are another setback which often worsens the performance of students.

According to him, due to the delays in issuing loans to students , many students do not even attend lectures or do anything related to studies due to lack of money.

Jackson also spoke about the shortage of lecturers in the universities which is becoming a chronic problem in the country.

He said there is a need for the government to find a way to address this problem because most of the universities have unqualified lecturers, just to cover the big gap.

“Higher learning institutions are being forced to use even a diploma graduates just to ensure that students are taught because there is no way they can tackle the problem,” he said.

Reacting on the challenges, TCU Senior Admissions Officer Dr Mahundu Fabiang promised to work on the curriculum and shortage of lecturers challenge.

However, he pointed out that many Tanzanian students and lecturers do not have the habit of going for higher studies.

He said the nation lacks qualified lecturers especially for science courses just because they do not opt for them in higher studies.

“We have a number of higher studies scholarships but people do not utilise those chances,” he said.

Giving the example of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) which offers scholarships for Tanzanians to study various courses in Germany, Dr Fabiang said only a few scholars take up those offers.

The DAAD scholarships aim to fund and support foreign students, graduates, doctoral students and young and early-stage researchers from Tanzania who wish to study selected courses in a German university.

It also focuses on cross-cutting topics such as good governance, administration, team formation and conflict management.

According to him, 20 scholarships are offered to students every year but only a quarter are picked, which is very discouraging.

HESLB Public Relations Manager Omega Ngole said the board is working to improve loan recovery in a bid to ensure that they address all the challenges.

He said that the board will convince the government to increase the budgetary allocations so as to meet the ever growing demand of funds as well as stepping up on recovering loans.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN