Prime Minister James Marape has hailed the Higher Education Loan Programme (HELP) after receiving an update from the Department of Higher, Education, Research, Science and Technology (DHERST) Minister Don Polye and DHERST Secretary Fr. Jan Czuba recently.
Over 35,000 students have benefitted from HELP, with a total expenditure exceeding K177 million, as of the 31st of December, 2023.
HELP is a flagship initiative of the Marape Rosso government introduced in 2020 and aims to assist students facing financial constraints in paying their tertiary institution fees.
Minister Polye and Fr. Jan in briefing the Prime Minister stated that a cumulative amount of K177,371,936 in student HELP loans have been disbursed from 2020 to 2023 to cater for 35,615 loan applications which were approved and disbursed by December 31, 2023.
The annual breakdown:
2020 - K28,588,354 disbursed benefitting 5,204 students
2021 - K27,688,365 disbursed benefitting 6,743 students
2022 - K47,093,604 disbursed benefitting 9,840 students
2023 - K74,001,613 disbursed benefitting 13,828 students
Additionally, from 2020-2023, a total of 17,440 undergraduate students at universities benefited from HELP while 405 post-graduate students also benefitted from this program.
Another 6,477 students at teachers’ and nursing colleges and 11, 293 students from business colleges, technical colleges, and private providers also participated in this program.
Prime Minister Marape, said “HELP remains a successful programme, and with a total of 13,828 students benefitting in 2023, we anticipate continued growth with the increased new intakes for 2024”.
He reaffirmed the government’s commitment to ensuring quality education is accessible to all students in an affordable manner.
In 2022, the programme had generated its first repayment when the first beneficiaries began repaying the loan. He emphasized that beneficiaries would not be pressured to repay the loan hastily and can opt for a lifelong repayment plan.
“The loan repayments will be saved in what is called the Higher Education Endowment Fund, which will generate returns and, in turn, self-sustain the programme in the long run,” he added.
The initiative is aligned with the government’s commitment to ‘leaving no child behind’.