Dar es Salaam. The Higher
Education Loan Board (HESLB) has entered into an agreement with the Zanzibar
People's Economic Empowerment Agency (ZEEA), in order to find employment
opportunities for beneficiaries to enable them to repay loans. HESLB has said
so far it claims Sh700 billion from 222,532 beneficiaries who are among the
754,000 who were granted higher education loans.
The employment
opportunities will be in various sectors including tourism, mining, production
and agriculture.
The Executive Director of
HESLB, Dr. Bill Kiwia has noted this today March 18, 2024 during the signing of
the cooperation agreement with ZEEA.
He said that for the
beginning, the opportunities will be in the tourism sector.
"We have focused on
three main areas in this partnership, first is to find employment opportunities
for the beneficiaries of higher education loans so that they can return it and
others can benefit," he said and added:
"Also, we will
collaborate with ZEEA to prepare training to increase skills and employment
opportunities in various sectors, starting with tourism, which will help
increase the speed of repaying loans from entrepreneurs who benefited from
higher education loans."
Dr. Kiwia said: "We
continue to increase efforts and develop strategies, including increasing the
scope of cooperation with stakeholders by creating employment opportunities,
creating an environment for them to find employment so that the beneficiaries
can now start repaying loans little by little," he said.
Dr. Kiwia has said that
there will be a center to build their capacity so that they can be
self-employed, employed, and those who wish to go through various universities
will register and be given those opportunities.
"It is for them to
show up in large numbers, the Credit Board has a database that we will use, we
offer this opportunity to all beneficiaries of higher education loans," he
said.
The Executive Director of
ZEEA, Juma Burhan Mohamed, has said that they will work with universities,
aiming to ensure that everyone who graduates gets a job through self-employment
or employment. "All they have to do is register and come to us, we believe
these students are potential entrepreneurs, we must prepare them there and
enter the labor market," he said.
"With this
agreement, we expect the beneficiaries who are in the informal sector to come
forward and start repaying the loans. We also expect an increase in the number
of students who need to benefit from the returned funds, thus making the fund
to pay for students sustainable," said Dr. Kiwia.
One of the beneficiaries
of the loans, Samora Edmund, who studied at Arusha Technical College, said that
the strategy will be beneficial for unemployed graduates.
"Many are graduating
with no jobs, so if the Board helps them, they will get refunds, also for those
who get an opportunity, they will be released from employment," he said.
Edmund has said that it
is important for the Board to establish a good system of deductions so that
they do not hurt them.
Another beneficiary, Mary
Edward of Tumaini University said it is a good strategy even though it is late
to start.
"You will help many
people to recover their loans, as we know that employment is difficult now, so
when the Board creates these opportunities for them, it will first be sure that
its money will be returned," he said.
He said it is a good
procedure if you will have a friendly environment for the beneficiaries of the
loans.