Patrick Hilbert
15 July 2008
Port Louis — All students - whatever their financial circumstances - who have the potential for university studies now have the opportunity to do so. They must apply at the ministry of Education to benefit from the fund created in the budget.
Class in progress at the University of Mauritius. As from August, it could be less empty since any student who has the potential can be admitted thanks to the Rs 1 billion provision in the budget.
Even if education is supposed to be free at primary and secondary level, access to tertiary education institutions is much too expensive for many. It thus perverts the system and makes education an arm for exclusion rather then inclusion. Will the setting up of the Human Resource, Knowledge & Arts Development Fund bring a change? One thing is for sure: this new structure, officially launched last Thursday, brings hope to many and creates a lot of expectations, even from the government side.
When Rama Sithanen, deputy-Prime minister and minister of Finance, first mentioned this fund during his budget speech on 6th June, he explained its main and many objectives. It will finance among other things student loan schemes and scholarships, projects to equip individuals with access to information, knowledge, technology, training and skills and also physical infrastructure for tertiary education such as buildings, equipment and various facilities as well as schemes to encourage and support local artists.
A lot of work has to be done and pressure on the managing committee is heavy. "It is a very ambitious project when talking about developing the human resources the country needs", said the minister of Education, Dharam Gokhool.
Presided by Ram Prakash Ramlugun, supervising officer at the ministry of Education and Human resources, concrete results are expected in the medium term. But work started as soon as the rules for the setting up of the fund were promulgated through amendments of the Finance and Audit Act last week. The committee, which comprises also members of the private sector, is currently elaborating a strategic plan over three years. The first draft is expected to be ready in six to eight weeks.
But the priority, as announced by Ram Prakash Ramlugun, is to help needy students get access to tertiary education. "In the first instance, we will examine the demands for assistance for the new academic year because of the proximity with its beginning." Those who have obtained their Higher School Certificate (HSC) and whose family doesn't earn more than Rs 7 500 per month are eligible and are invited to make an application at the ministry. "It is inadmissible that a youngster who has obtained his HSC cannot get access to tertiary education because of financial constraints", declared Robin Harel, vice-president of the fund.
One of the first initiatives should probably be the launching of a government guaranteed student loan scheme of up to a yearly Rs 150 000 to allow banks to offer loans to all students who are preparing themselves to study at a tertiary institution recognized by the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) in Mauritius. This guarantee is aimed at students whose families don't have the means to secure such a loan.
"The second-chance programme aims at providing basic numeracy and language skills to those who have dropped out of school and orient them to vocational programmes."
The fund will also cover a second-chance programme, due to start in January. Its purpose is to give youngsters under 21 who are not in full-time education or full-time employment and who were not able to complete their secondary education, another opportunity. This programme aims at providing basic numeracy and language skills to those who have dropped out of school and orient them to vocational programmes. The financing will be the fund's responsibility while the developing of the programme will be left to the ministry of Education in collaboration with other government departments, the Industrial Vocational & Training Board, the Empowerment Programme and NGOs as announced in the budget speech.
The Fund has also the important task to help reduce pressure on the University of Mauritius (UOM) and University of Technology of Mauritius (UTM) by financing the building of new structures. While government wants to double the enrolment ratio at tertiary level by 2015, those institutions are already submerged by students and have hardly any place left. The government proposes to build a new campus. The problem is that both institutions don't have money to finance such a project. With the help of the new fund, the State Land Development Company will construct facilities on a plot of land at Côte-d'Or near Moka for lease to the UOM and the UTM.
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