More students will be awarded loans- HELSB

By KALOBWE BWALYAMORE students will be awarded loans, the Higher Education Loans and Scholarships Board (HELSB), has said.The Board said it had engaged the Ministry of Education on possibilities of increasing the number of beneficiaries following protests by students.HELSB spokesperson, Chiselwa Kawanda said more details would be communicated once consultations when done.Ms Kawanda however said not all eligible students who had been left out would be given loans.Only 2,481 eligible first-year students at UNZA have been awarded loans for the 2021/2022 academic year out of over 10,000 applications.“We cannot give loans to all the 8000 who were left out but will give some,” she said.Ms Kawanda said the response was overwhelming but the board ensured that it worked within its budget .She explained that HELSB used the same criteria of awarding 35 percent to merit pointers, 30 percent to students from rural areas, 30 percent female and five percent to the disabled. She said the […]