Tertiary students to demand answers from DTEF

BABOKI KAYAWE
Staff Writer | Wednesday May 1, 2013 00:00

 

University of Botswana Student Representative Council (UBSRC) president Jacob Kelebeng yesterday urged all UB students and others from various tertiary institutions to gather at the DTEF premises to demand answers from director, Marcos Maedza.

This comes at a time when the local tertiary education funding body's perennial queues are over-stretching. Mmegi's visit to DTEF yesterday afternoon found a rather pathetic scenario as hundreds of higher education learners waited in the sweltering heat for responses from Maedza's office. All cohorts, from beginning, progressing, retaking and reinstating students were there anxiously waiting to secure a place on the government sponsorship sheet.

In a telephone interview with Mmegi yesterday, Kelebeng said since last month (January) student leaders have been frequenting DTEF offices, and that now the student community needs to hear the truth from the horse's mouth.  'We have tried to be patient with DTEF officers, and it seems like nothing is coming up. Come one, come all,' he said, stressing that this should be a peaceful gathering.

He added that every year they experience delays, which impact badly on their academic performance because students usually get sponsorship when learning has long started.

According to Kelebeng, this breeds a continuous cycle where students miss much and end up failing their exams again.Kelebeng said there has to be constant communication between the DTEF and institutions in order for the former to avoid such delays.

The student leader says subsistence allowances have also been delayed which the DTEF blames on delays in registration by some institutions.

In addition, he encouraged DTEF management to introspect to see whether they are doing enough to serve students.Meanwhile, Maedza said the delays are due to the fact that re-take, re-sit and reinstatement students have just been placed at their respective institutions. Contrary to what Mmegi established, Maedza said the queues at DTEF are for progression students.  'They will be placed in May and August,' he said, adding that yesterday was the deadline for such applicants. Commenting on the imminent allowance review, he said, 'We have no information on increase of allowances at the moment. We will let you know if there are any changes.'