State fails to sponsor university students

The government owes $62 million in unpaid fees to its state universities, polytechnic colleges and teacher’s colleges, Parliament heard last week. Director of Higher Education Martha Muguti disclosed that the Ministry of Finance had since 2012 failed to meet its budgetary obligations to finance tertiary institutions, leaving them in dire straits, reports NewsDay.

Muguti made the disclosure when she appeared before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, Science and Technology chaired by Insiza MP Siyabonga Ncube. “Since January 2013, no single cent has been released for state universities and we find it difficult to deal with issues of accommodation, meals; and the standard of life students now live is appalling,” she said.

She also said most parents were failing to pay university fees, which ranged between $350 for arts, $400 for sciences and $450 for medical and veterinary sciences per semester. “We are losing a lot of potential students because they cannot afford to pay the expenses for tertiary education,” she said.
Full report on the NewsDay site