The elusive dream: Many people have dreams to study abroad but cannot afford the fees as required by most universities. PHOTOI FILE
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He wanted his child to get exposure and overseas education, particularly in the sciences since he believes overseas colleges are more advanced.
Despite his low income, Mr Omary Mwaimu, sent his first born child to the UK for undergraduate studies, two years ago.
He wanted his child to get exposure and overseas education, particularly in the sciences since he believes overseas colleges are more advanced.
“My dream was to send my child to the UK, but on realising its expenses I wondered whether I would manage. I had to save money to achieve my goal,” says the proud father. Currently his daughter is in her second year in college.
Mwaimu’s second born now in secondary school, also wants to study abroad like his sister. But given his financial position, Mwaimu admits he can no longer afford paying fees for another child to study outside the country.
But Mwaimu and his son need not despair. A week ago, a private company, Global Education Link (GEL) in collaboration with Bank of Africa (BOA), introduced a programme meant to offer loans for higher education abroad.
The initiative to be financed by BOA requires a parent to deposit only between 30 and 50 per cent of the college fees and the rest would be covered by the loan.
This serves as a big relief to many parents who desire to send their children abroad for studies because almost all overseas universities prefer that students pay fees in full, which many parents cannot afford.
At least 3,000 students are expected to benefit from the over Sh40 billion allocated for the purpose in the first phase.
Speaking during the launch, Director of higher education at the ministry of education and vocational training, Prof Sylvia Temu, said such a product is highly needed in the education sector.
“This is real innovation. In this country we are hungry for innovation. No one has ever come up with such an idea of supporting the government’s efforts in loan provision to higher students,” Prof Temu said.
She called on other stakeholders in the private sector to do the same under the public-private partnership (PPP) since the government cannot afford to finance all students due to inadequate funds.
The professor said the government has limited capacity to cater for all students at higher education level.
“We need to invest a lot and the government alone cannot. We need private players to come in,” she insisted.
Mr Abdulmalik Mollel, managing director of GEL, says they decided to offer loans on realising that over 99 per cent of parents or guardians who desire overseas education for their children struggle to pay fees in full as preferred by many universities abroad.
Under GEL’s loan initiative, a parent is required to make an initial deposit of between 30 and 50 per cent of the fee, and the rest would be paid on loan.
The payment of the loan, which is interest-free, has to be done in installments within an agreed period within a particular academic year.
One of the conditions is that when a parent fails to pay in the agreed time, their child would be blocked from attending classes within a month.
Thereafter, if still no payment is done, the money that a parent paid would be used as initial fees deposit to process a flight ticket for their child to return to the country.
Mollel says the interest rate on the loan would be covered through sharing costs between GEL and the particular university to which a student would be admitted.
Mr Ammish Owusu-Amoah, BOA managing director, says the bank has an interest in the education sector and they want to take the sector to a new level.
Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office (Regional Administration and Local Government -RALG), Mr Zuberi Sumataba, challenges the company to think of a possibility of introducing bridging courses here in Tanzania in preparing students who failed in the country’s education system to study in overseas colleges.
Acting Executive Secretary of the Tanzania Commission for Universities (TCU), Prof Magishi Mugasa warns students not to go for overseas universities without acquiring information over whether the particular colleges abroad are recognised under local regulations.
“Never go to the college that we don’t recognise because when you come back, it would be difficult to get a job,” he says, adding that students should be on alert over the existence of the many agents for overseas education since almost all of them do not consult the TCU over accreditation of the colleges that they link the students with.
