Gaborone — The Ministry of Higher Education is still committed to increasing student's living allowance to P2,500 as indicated in the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) manifesto. Responding to a question in Parliament on Monday, Minister of Higher Education, Mr Prince Maele stated that it had not been possible due to country's current economic constraints.

Minister Maele said under the circumstances the ministry was currently not in a position to provide the timeline for the increase of students' allowance to P2,500 as promised.

"The sustainability of this allowance increase will solely depend on the economic status of the country from time to time," he said.

He added that the ministry had taken a gradual approach in fulfilling such commitments in phase as detailed, the first phase was to align living allowance for brigades students with those of other tertiary institutions and effected in August 2025, increasing it from P300 to P1,920 to ensure equity.

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Again, he said the second phase, in the past was an increase of living allowance to P2,200 effective end of April and the off-campus allowance would increase from P1 919.70 to P2,200 reflecting a 14.6 per cent increase.

On-campus allowance would increase from P1,550 to P1,776.90 reflecting a 14.6 per cent increase while on-campus allowance for full boarding would increase from P296.30 to P339.60 reflecting a 14.6 per cent.

Member of Parliament for Kgatleng East, Mr Mabuse Pule had asked the minister to indicate if he intended to increase student allowances in line with the current government's commitment to raise the amount to P2,500.

Mr Pule also asked the minister to state the timeline for the increase and outline how government planned to ensure the sustainability of the allowance given the current economic condition and measures government would take to ensure that such support effectively addressed the financial challenges faced by students.

BOPA