THE current government is being urged to introduce a loaning scheme for local students that wished to undergo tertiary studies on undergraduate or postgraduate degree both home and abroad.
This was made known to the Solomon Star by a group of concerned students who were not able to make it into the government scholarships for this year, though they have satisfied the Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.0 and above.
These concerned students have raised their expressions, claiming that this initiative is the only way out.
“Government should consider other ways for students like us to at least meet our own tuition fees to study overseas or at home in some kind of a loaning scheme.
“The idea is, to allow students to loan money and repay it later when they completed their studies and get employed.
“Note that, there must be strict guidelines to safeguard the loaning scheme,” the students said.
They added that, this could be another way to do away with the mindset of relying on Members of Parliament to pay for students’ tuition fees when studying in the country.
“We understand that, this scheme is in existence at many countries overseas, so our government must start thinking of getting us out from the mentality of relying on government funds,” they added.
Solomon Star understands that, the loan scheme is one of the concepts that the Ministry of Education and Human Resources (MEHRD) under past governments has been discussing in the past to try and develop into policies with the aim of assisting students to further their education in Universities.
However to date, this still remains an issue to be fully considered by the national government.
By RONALD TOITO’ONA
