Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Simplex Chithyola Banda has announced a 60 percent adjustment in upkeep allowance for students enrolled in public institutions of higher learning from K350 000 to K560 000.

In his responses to queries raised by opposition parties, the Budget and Finance Committee and cluster committees on the K5.9 trillion 2024/25 fiscal plan, he told Parliament yesterday that the decision is part of the government’s initiative to promote inclusion and accessibility of loans.

The minister said the government has allocated K25 billion to student allowances, of which K24 billion is a budget allocation and K1 billion is expected from student loan recoveries, following a directive from President Lazarus Chakwera.

Directed the increase: Chakwera

Said Chithyola-Banda: “The additional resources will include resources for raising student’s allowances. To this end, I would like to report that the student’s upkeep segment has been adjusted upwards to K560 000.”

The announcement coincided with a call from Zomba Nsondole member of Parliament McNice Abu Naliwa (Democratic Progressive Party) for the government to reform the student loans system to make it more inclusive and accessible to underprivileged students.

In his contribution to the budget debate yesterday, he asked the government to consider revising the selection criteria, which he described as random, to ensure that it targets the needy and filters out people who did their secondary education in upper-class secondary schools.

Said Naliwa: “How come the people who paid about K500 000 per term qualify as needy students and get a loan. And sometimes students qualify for a loan in the first year only to fall short in subsequent years.”

The remarks come after the Ministry of Education and the Higher Education Student Loans and Grants Board last year urged the government to raise the tuition fees in public institutions of higher learning and improve targeting to ensure that the little resources available are directed to underprivileged students.

In an earlier interview, Ministry of Education Principal Secretary Chikondano Mussa said the existing system benefits the elite who “monopolise” higher education in public universities.

Currently, the Loans Board only disburses loans to students enrolled in the generic programmes in public universities to pursue undergraduate studies at degree level.  

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