Times Of Swaziland: MONTHLY ALLOWANCES: SIGN OR LOSE SCHOLARSHIP, STUDENTS WARNED

MONTHLY ALLOWANCES: SIGN OR LOSE SCHOLARSHIP, STUDENTS WARNED
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BY SABELO MAJOLA on 12/09/2019 00:33:00


MBABANE – ‘Sign the addendum or have your scholarship agreement
invalidated’. This was the message from government to students on the issue of
the monthly disbursement of living allowances.
Having tabled an improved offer to tertiary students that entails disbursing E1
690 monthly to off-campus students, government has come out to state that this
was their final offer to the students.
University of Eswatini students were getting E9 900 annually in the discarded
lump-sum system of disbursement and this amounted to E4 900 per semester for
students living off-campus, excluding the E2 000 book allowances which was sent
straight to the bookshop.
For those who are staying on campus, they received the same amount but the
institution deducted E5 000 to cover accommodation, food and transport and after
the deductions, the students were left with E4 000, which is E2 000 per
semester. This means the students had an increase of about E7 000 to their
newly-improved allowance which will be disbursed in 30 days regular cycles over
10 months from the beginning of the academic year as articulated by government.
Emphasis
To put emphasis on the improved offer being final, tertiary institutions, acting
on government instructions, will distribute re-admission forms to the students
to sign and failure to comply will result in government revoking their
scholarship agreement. In signing the forms, the students will be making an
undertaking not to embark on class boycotts, acts of vandalism, theft of
property and intimidation of staff and students in future.
This was contained in a press statement from the University of Eswatini (UNESWA)
issued by the Registrar, Dr Salebona Simelane, on Tuesday. The institution has
since re-opened after two weeks following the suspension of classes on August
26.
The same emphasis was communicated in a statement from the Ministry of Labour
and Social Security issued by Principal Secretary Thulani Mkhaliphi on Tuesday,
where he said students should note that the study loan award agreements were
individual and that government reserved the right to review the agreement if the
student was deemed to be directly or indirectly disregarding or disrespecting
the loan agreement.
Mkhaliphi also advised students to reciprocate the government gesture by taking
education seriously and commit to raising concerns with due regard to laid down
procedures and avoid resorting to vandalism, disregard of law and order and
taking irresponsible decisions of boycotting classes and at the end losing time
on the minimum contact hours they were supposed to have with lecturers, to
retain credibility of their training and certificates they would hold on
completion of their studies.
Government Spokesperson Percy Simelane minced no words in stating that students,
who will not sign the re-admission form which comes with the conditions
aforementioned, will have their scholarship agreement invalidated. Simelane
maintained what he said two weeks ago, that students could not dictate terms to
the loaner but had to comply with what government implemented because it was for
the good of the students.
He stated that government could not sit back and watch while its property was
being vandalised by students at the institutions and the forms were not to spite
them but to instil order.
“We won’t have hooligans engaging in protest marches and vandalising
government’s property. As things are, government does not have the money to
re-build property that was deliberately vandalised by students and even if we
did have the money, it doesn’t give them any licence to vandalise, wreck havoc
and leave an ugly sight.
Statement
“We stick by what the Ministry of Labour and Social Security said through
their statement. If students choose to not sign the form, the writing is on the
wall, they would have their scholarship agreement revoked,” he said.
Simelane said these were realistic conditions that meant no harm but to channel
the students to their primary goal which was studying and graduating to get
employment.
“We are only looking out for the students because they are the future of the
country and we want the best for them. They have to study and attain
qualifications so that they can be considered for employment and help in
developing the country,” he said. UNESWA students will be receiving the
admission forms from this morning and they would also be resuming classes.