New plan for TELS – Prof Prasad

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Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Prof. Biman Prasad speaking at the budget consultation at Nadi Civic Centre. Picture: BALJEET SINGH

Government is reviewing the Tertiary Education Loans Scheme because the way it operated previously was not working and was placing students in debt.

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Professor Biman Prasad said this during a national budget consultation in Lautoka this week.

He said their new plan for TELS would be implemented in the upcoming 2023-2024 National Budget.

“What we will do is rationalise the scholarships with the same amount of money that was going to the loans and a smaller amount, a reduced amount, we could provide (for) scholarships to everyone who wants to go to university or technical institutions,” the Deputy PM said.

He said while the scholarships would be made available to a large number of students, a clear criterion would be set out for applicants.

“We will set out a criterion of priority areas. “

Everybody can’t be engineers, everybody can’t be a doctor. “So we are able to plan the whole tertiary education entry.

“That will work very well and it will be good for the labour market in terms of our manpower plan.”

Prof Prasad said the change in the scholarship and TELS program was the result of the large amount of debt owed by struggling students.

“On average a student coming out of university would easily rake in a debt of $35,000 to $40,000 – in some cases more – depending on the number of years studied.

“The total since 2014 was about $630 million and hardly anybody was paying it.

“So when (previous government) said we will give you 50 per cent discount, basically those rich ones who could afford it and who could go and take bank loans managed to clear it and they were a very small percentage.

“So on average Government was collecting $6 to $7 million.”

He said the loans scheme also opened the door for students who were unable to complete their studies, making it difficult to repay their debt.

“People who should be in a technical school ended up trying to get a degree and some of them did not complete their studies and ended up with a huge debt.

“So what we decided as a Government we will just write off that $630m because it is not coming back anyway.”

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