29 Aug 2024

Government, through the Ministry of Education and Skills Development, has sponsored 37 435 sponsored students who are currently studying in local institutions while 591 are studying abroad countries and universities.

This was revealed by education and skills development minister, Honourable Dr Douglas Letsholathebe in a statement he delivered in Parliament on Tuesday, updating on the progress regarding implementation of the 2024/25 sponsorship cycle.

Dr Letsholathebe said the ministry was allocated over P3 billion for tertiary education funding for the current financial year.

Breaking down the allocated budget, he said over P1.7 billion  was allocated for the payment of tuition fees to various education and training providers while over P1.3 billion was designated for students’ allowance, medical expenses and transport costs.

He said the ministry sponsorships covered pre-service, post-secondary up to post graduate level in some selected programmes like top achievers and psychology. “The ministry sponsors students locally and externally to undertake their studies,” he said.

He added students were sponsored under different categories. He said the first category was for new students, who were fresh graduates of Botswana General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE) and the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE).

He said the new students’ category was made up of mainstream students who had attained 36 points and above as well as 31 points cut-off points for special dispensation programmes, consisting of orphans, students with special educational needs as well as those residing in remote areas.

Dr Letsholathebe  said 11 180 new students were sponsored by government during the current financial year.

He said the second category sponsored top achievers with an entry requirement of a minimum of six A*.  The main objective of the programme, he said  was to motivate and inspire learners to excel in their studies.

To date, he said 699 had graduated under the programme since inception, while 422 were currently studying externally and 143 had been placed locally to undertake their A-levels.

For those who had graduated, he said 17 of them held PhD qualification, while 281 held Masters Degree and 401 Bachelors Degree.

The other category, he said was the Bachelor of Science career designation. The minister explained that within the main stream local placement, the ministry had an arrangement in which the University of Botswana trained students BSc general programme and at completion of Year 1, students were career designated into different science based career paths such medicine and engineering, among others.

For the current year, Dr Letsholathebe said 224 students had been career designated and were placed locally while 50 were being processed for external and regional placement.

He added that under the elite sponsorship category, which was established to develop sporting talent, 31 were undergoing training, while nine were sponsored under the current financial year.

Under the donor scholarship, he said currently, 22 students were studying under the category, where government had collaborations with other countries and partners in which donor scholarships were awarded to qualifying Batswana citizens to pursue their studies.

Minister Letsholathebe  further told Parliament that re-sponsorship category was meant for those previously sponsored and were terminated due to various reasons including poor academic performance, among others.

“To this end a total of 4 613 have been re-sponsored this academic year,” he said.

He added that another category was for progression scholarship, which provided for students who were progressing from one level of study to the next, where some would be upgrading from certificate to diploma and some from diploma to degree.

“This year, we will be sponsoring 498 students. A high number of students has applied for re-sponsorship and progression, but due to financial constraints, they were not all covered.

For re-sponsorship, priority was given to those whose credits were about to expire,” he said.

He indicated that 16 291 have been offered sponsorship across all categories during the current financial year.

Dr Letsholathebe said section 9 of the Department of Tertiary Education Financing Memorandum of Agreement signed with the students stipulated that repeat scholarship was not an entitlement, but may be granted at the discretion of government upon receiving an application of such by the student.

Meanwhile, Dr Letsholathebe told Parliament that Tertiary Education financing was a critical component of the ministry’s programmes in place and played a key role in achieving Vision 2036, with specific focus on the pillar of human and social development. “Human capital plays a critical role in the development of the economy,” he said. ENDS