UPC cites unfairness in Student loan scheme

The Uganda People’s Congress has cited inequity in the student loan scheme saying some regions have been favored at the expense of others.
Mr Okello Luchima, the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) party spokesperson said the eastern and northern regions have received fewer slots as compared to the west and central regions.
While addressing journalists at the UPC offices in Kampala on Wednesday, Mr Luchima said the loan scheme was not thought through.
“If the government’s aim is to help needy students access a university education, the northern and eastern regions should have been given priority because they are already poorly represented on government sponsorship,” Mr Luchima said and added, “The government ought to have considered positive discrimination in terms of entry into institutions because of the hardships in the regions. The government is aware of the hardships in those areas but it ignored them deliberately,” he added.

Mr Luchima said the North and East are unique regions which should be treated differently. “You cannot use the same yardstick for a student in Kampala and that in the north that has suffered the effects of the Lord’s Resistance war,”Mr Luchima asserted.
He also argued that key stakeholders were not engaged before the scheme was implemented and added that it was impractical to only offer tuition while ignoring other expenses involved in studying.
“How will a student from Kaabong District for example be able to study in Kampala without food and accommodation? You cannot assume that every student lives a stone throw away from a university,” he noted.
Meanwhile Mr Luchima further said that President Museveni’s emphasis on Science courses in the scheme is a miscalculation.

“The problem is that he studied long time ago during the mono-syllabi period and he doesn’t understand a multidisciplinary syllabus. You cannot disregard arts because this country needs planners, thinkers and administrators,” Mr Luchima said.
Mr Luchima said the whole scheme needs an overhaul in order to reflect a national character, equity if it is intended for the needy.
“By imposing commercial bank rates of 7 percent on student loans, it will make the students’ lives even harder. The loans, if they are to help, would be offered at zero interests rates,” Mr Luchima said.
Government has put an interest of 7 per cent on the loans; meaning for Shs4million each student will get every year will attract an interest of Shs280, 000.
Mr Luchima also said that if the government intended to create access and equity, it would have catered for a reasonable number. He described the number of students that have been awarded (1,269) as despicable.
He said the government has hurried to implement the policy ahead of the 2016 general elections for political reasons.

“The NRM is rushing to implement the policy because it was talked about by political parties during the 2006 general elections. The NRM keeps implementing policies for political reasons and that is why they backfire,” Mr Luchima noted.
Early this week, government released a list of students supposed to get loans for university fees. According to the list released on Monday, only 1,269 students out of the 2,109 who applied for the student loan were awarded.
About the scheme
The Higher Education Students’ Financing Board is established by an Act of Parliament No.2 of 2014, as a body corporate mandated to provide loans and scholarships to eligible citizens to enable them access higher education at affordable rates and increase equitable access to higher education.
Only science students are being considered although this is expected to expand to humanities as the resource envelope improves. The beneficiaries are expected to pay an interest of 7 per cent. Failure to repay, you risk a six months jail term which will not exempt the culprit from repaying of a Shs1m penalty. Buvuma, Amudat, Bulisa, Amudat and Nakapiripirit districts didn’t have any student taken on the scheme.

[email protected]