An education expert has requested the higher education students’ loans board to intensify efforts of retrieving all matured loans from previous beneficiaries in order to expand its basket.
Benedicto Kondowe has said this following the recent increase in number of students who will be benefiting from the loans from 34 863 to 38 thousand.
Speaking in an interview with radio Islam, Kondowe, while commending the 9 percent increase, he said the current adjustment does not however meet the demand for the loans, hence asking the board to consider increasing further the number of beneficiaries in order to improve the country’s education status.
“It is very commendable and we encourage the board to continue increasing the number of those who will be benefiting from the loans because the current increase does not reflect and does not meet the higher percentage of needy students who are eligible to access the support”, he said.
He said increasing the number of beneficiaries further, would help the country in improving human capital development which will eventually assist in ensuring that the agenda 2063 is achieved. He said development is achievable when a country has a higher percentage of people who are trained to a tertiary level thereby stressing the need for government to improve the board’s funding capabilities so that more students are able to acquire tertiary education.
Kondowe expressed concern that more students who are eligible to access the loans are reported to have been left out during the previous opportunities despite being needy, saying this affects the number of people who are well educated, hence affecting national development.
“It is sad to hear reports that some students who are given the opportunity to access the loans come from families that can afford to pay for their education leaving out those that are poor, so the I am of the view that the board should come more transparent when selecting the beneficiaries”, he added.
He then advised the students’ loans board to find other ways of vetting the applicants in order to make sure that only those that are very needy are accessing the higher education loan. He suggested that the board should publicize the list of selected beneficiaries before the final approval, in order to ensure that those shortlisted are eligible for the educational support.
“I would suggest that the board should give the list of those selected to the general public through a press release and there is need for the board to at least provide a period of two weeks or up to four weeks before the final list is so that people with information that would assist in removing some beneficiaries who can afford to pay for their education from the list, so that those are very poor should be give the support’ explained Kondowe.
The initiative aims to ease financial burdens for families with students in public and private universities.
The increases in the number of students to benefit from the initiative, also expands the eligibility to accredited Open, Distance and e-Learning (ODeL) degree programmes. The application window for 2026/2027 runs from May 25th to June 24th, 2026.
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