Tanzania Higher Education Students Loans

The system of issuing loans for students to pursue higher education--who would pay back later when employed or running businesses--is nothing new, being applied in many countries.

To Tanzania it was an introduction of change that was very much unwanted: the new loanees would ask, "why us?, Why did our parents etc receive free education but not us?" The question has a convincing answer, so the loan thing came to be accepted as a way of life, an expense like foodstuff and fuel.

The problems of implementation began. After the first faltering steps, it was apparent that the numbers going for loans was overwhelming. Off the list went those pursuing postgraduate studies. Yet the applicants were more than budgeted funds. The Board morphed its criteria by limiting beneficiaries to only those who got Division One. This was not the minimum qualifications set out by the universities, by the way. It proved disastrous--aspirants of tough UG courses such as Meidicine and Engineering figured the chances of scoring Div I with good grades in those subjects, and opted to study for easier humanities subjects. Long-term effect? A nation with short supply of professionals but full of "artists"--lawyers, linguists, historians, librarians etc etc. As employment chances are dwindling compared to number of graduates, one of the alternatives to employment would be enterpreneurship, and who would be in a better position to start an enterprise than a professional?

Then came the concept that the Board would be in a position to help more students if those with well-to-do families could receive less loans (60 - 80 percent of total financial requirement for tuition, subsistence etc). Based on a set of questions on the application forms, the Board would decide who would receive 100, 80 or 60 percent. The system seems flawed, likely from the massive paperwork resulting from the applications, and actual loans are not reflecting on true student social status. Study they must, so some students have been known to pay for the tuition using their subsistence allowances and going around campuses like beggers or surviving on unrealistic rations.

The Board had also figured a trick of making money on the side off the prospective students. They would charge TZS 10,000 (a bit less than USD 10) as a processing fee for every application form submitted. The trick lies here: the applications are required to be submitted well before the high school results are out, with candidates not even sure whether they'll meet minimum qualifications to enroll. This money is not refunded. It is a cruel little scheme, because all parents think their child is a genius if there was any genius in the world, and would gladly pay for the fee. If some study were to be done, it would reveal the Board has been making a bundle this way.

Another problem that featured around blogs/forums awhile back was that of one student being listed for lone in as many as 4 different institutions. So manual is the processing system of applications that they allow such error arising from multiple applications.

It therefore came as no surprise when students from a number of universities and colleges rose as one protesting against partial loan that has lead to much anxiety, insecurity, and more. A little girl who left her upcountry home to come pursuing a degree courses might find herself unwillingly drawn into love affair and possible dire consequences included STIs and single motherhood.

The state organs rolled anti-riot gear to campuses, donned face masks and fired tear gas at the kids. Even as this was happening in one campus, the other were coming onboard. One by one the institutions closed and students sent home. This was after the Minister in the troubled Ministry of Education had issued an announcement on media, "All students should be in their classrooms tomorrow at 7 a.m." I reflected during my entire higher education stint of several years if there had ever been a timetable where one should be in class at 7 a.m., I drew a blank. And this gentleman is a professor, no less!

I am throwing my lot with the protesting students:

• the 7 a.m. ridicule stated above is part of it.
• the other reasons is the apparent unwillingness to refuse acting by logic, through negotiations between students government and the responsible ministry.
• I also am pretty convinced that the responsible ministry has not sought funds realistically to cater for bigger enrolment and hence more loans. We know how co-operating taxpayers can be towards a good cause. Road toll levy on fuel pump sales helped building kilometers of roads. similar levying could be aimed at boosting the loans pouch--several people would like to do their postgrads if loans were availed to them, and most students who met minimum qualifications to enrol would like to do just that.
• Tanzania is the last in East Africa region in tertiary institutions enrolment figures. What did other country do to achieve that, while they all have less populations compared to that of our country?