Gov’t increases 2024-2025 students sponsorship
Larona Makhaiza | Monday May 13, 2024 06:00
Launching the sponsorship cycle this week, Letsholathebe stated that for the past years, the ministry has been working tirelessly trying to secure more funds to sponsor students. He stressed that their efforts had not borne fruits up until this year. “We have been given money as the Ministry of Education because year in and year out we have been asking for funds without luck.
But, today we are happy to say that this year there has been a little increment of 11.45% to sponsor students,” Letsholathebe said. He further added that the increment is a good on the part of government and they should be lauded as the move propels the ministry to sponsor more students this year through different categories.
“We have really done a great job on many aspects because we are here to launch the sponsorship today. I am happy to announce that we will increase the number of sponsored students from 10, 070 in 2023 to 11, 880 new students and this number will maybe be exceeded according to our projections,” he said.
The minister also revealed that the envisioned number of 11, 880 students to be sponsored means that out of 36, 000 who sat for examinations, 24, 120 people will not be going for university or colleges. Letsholathebe added that for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, more categories of students will be sponsored, but the sponsorship would not cater for new students and top achievers only. “For the past three years we have not been able to sponsor other categories and I am happy to announce that this time we are going to provide sponsorship for progression for the first time and this is one of the categories,” he said. The category of progression caters for prospective students who wish to ameliorate their qualifications by going from a diploma to a degree or a degree to post-graduate studies.
Letsholathebe emphasised that for this category, priority will be given to people who need this in order to get jobs like people who wish to be teachers after completing the Bachelor of Science General degree. Additionally, he said this year re-sponsorship will also be included in the 2024/ 2025 sponsorship cycle.
“There is also re-sponsorship and this is for students that have not done well and did not finish their studies for their many reasons whether they were playful at school or out by sickness,” he said. There is also category of elite sponsorship which targets people who are excelling in different disciplines and are suggested by the Ministry of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture (MYSC).
Meanwhile, Letsholathebe elaborated that the cut-off point for one to qualify for sponsorship still remains at 36 points though they had planned to bring it down. For students who are disadvantaged, the minister highlighted their cut off point is 31 points. Applications for this year will be done online through their website and the applications are expected to remain open until the next month after officially being opened on Tuesday this week.