Clarification needed on scheme

THE Government’s loan programme – Higher education loan programme (Help) will be a disaster if students and parents do not understand it.
The Government last November announced that it was cutting back on its funding for Tuition Fee Free in the primary and secondary sector and savings from the cut to the free education budget would be used to fund the Help through student loans.
We have been receiving concerns from the public most of which are misconception on how the Help will work.
Many do not understand that there is a process to follow and adhere to in order for a student to be given that loan.
Under the Tertiary Education Student Assistance Scheme (Tesas), students should excel in their studies to be given that assistance or remain under it.
The Tesas provides financial assistance from the Government to eligible students of targeted tertiary education programmes.
Tesas is merit based as it recognises students’ hard work and commitment towards academic excellence while Help is for those who are not on Tesas and are really struggling to pay school fees.
Both Tesas and Help will run alongside each other, as explained by Prime Minister James Marape.
Hecas will continue as an incentive for students who perform well academically.
Parents and students should understand that there are conditions and one of them is that students should give a guarantee that they will repay.
They also have to have somebody (guarantor) to guarantee for them that the repayment will be made.
It is a requirement that students applying for Help should produce their National Identification (NID) cards and Tax Identification Number.
The student is expected to find employment within six months of completing their studies before the repayment kicks in.
And if they don’t, the repayment is passed to the guarantor to shoulder. With the slow economic growth, high inflation, forex problems, affecting many businesses, the chances for students to find a job after tertiary studies are slim.
Whether this has been communicated out well and in simple English for that cocoa farmer sending his daughter to the University of Papua New Guinea remains to be seen.
While the Government says students, especially those attending tertiary institutions, should not be turned away while they get the Help system into place, University of PNG says the Help programme declaration form obtained from the school will not guarantee students registration for the first semester.
Every student is required to pay the compulsory fee in order to register for the first semester of the academic year.
UPNG says Help is not a legal process yet, the legal and financial aspect of the programme has not been put in concrete by the government.
Students at the University of Technology in Lae were told to pay at least 75 per cent of their school fees if they are to be registered for the new academic year.
While the introduction of the Help will help ease the school fee burden on students and families and give an opportunity for students especially those who come from rural areas to complete their higher education, the actual implementation of the Higher education loan programme (Help) should not be rushed so it is a win-win situations for all parties – the Government (the provider) and the students (recipients).