Ntsebeng Motsoeli
AT least 700 and 205 first year students at the Nationals University of Lesotho (NUL) and the Lerotholi Polytechnic College, respectively, will not receive government scholarships for the 2019/2020 academic year that starts in August.
This will reduce the number of state-sponsored students per year from 2000 to 1300 for NUL and from 1140 to 935 for Lerotholi also known as Fokothi.
Development Planning minister Tlohang Aumane recently said the funding cut was imposed after the two institutions rejected a government call for them to scrap their plans to increase tuition fees for the coming academic year.
The two institutions are said to have insisted on increments of 10 percent (Fokothi) and 25 percent (NUL).
Mr Aumane said government invited all tertiary institutions to discuss how best to accommodate all prospective students in the lists of those whose studies would be funded by the National Manpower Development Secretariat (NMDS).
This was after government cut the NMDS’ annual sponsorship budget by M300 million. Government only allocated M590 million, down from M890 million for NMDS to pay local and international scholarships.
It was against this background that the tertiaries institutions resolved to increase tuition fees for the 2019/2020 academic year- a move government said should be postponed to the 2020/21 academic year so that all incoming students could be accommodated in this years’ sponsorship plan.
Mr Aumane said government undertook to raise funds to pay the M300 million shortfall to the institutions and while most institutions appear to have heeded the government’s request, NUL and Fokothi are adamant on increasing fees.
“Following the recent meeting with authorities at various tertiary institutions, I received letters from most of them agreeing to the proposal to freezer the fee hikes,” Mr Aumane said.
“Unfortunately, National University of Lesotho and the Lerotholi Polytechnic are insisting on increasing tuition fees. This means then that the two institutions will have their list of sponsored first year students cut by 10 percent for Fokothi and 25 percent for NUL. We are await communication from the Roma School of Nursing so that a final decision can be made on them.”
Mr Aumane said the funding cut would also affect students in foreign universities as the government will not be providing any scholarships for them.
He said that government has also cut the stipends for Basotho in studying overseas.
The minister said that in implementing the new measures, government will prioritise the provision of scholarships to students in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) courses that will help boost the country’s economic growth.
“Government, and not the authorities at the institutions, will decide on where the funding cuts will be made. It is the government which will decide how many students will receive scholarships and which courses will be affected by the cuts.”
He said that programmes like Business Studies, Hospitality and Hotel Management offered at Fokothi will be affected by the funding cut.
He added that the Certificate of Statistics offered at NUL will not be sponsored at all this coming academic year while there will be a major cuts in programmes like law, humanities and the social sciences. All programmes at the NUL satellite institution, the Institute of Extra-Mural Studies (IEMS), will be affected by the cut.
“This is the last year that government gives sponsorship to learners in all programmes. In the next financial year government will release a list of programmes that it will continue to sponsor,” Mr Aumane said.