DAR ES SALAAM: PRIME Minister Kassim Majaliwa has urged the Higher Education Students’ Loans Board (HESLB) to embrace technological advancements and strengthen partnerships with financial institutions to improve student loan management and repayment processes.
Speaking at the HESLB’s 20th-anniversary celebration in Dar es Salaam, PM Majaliwa, representing President Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan, reaffirmed the government’s commitment to enhancing infrastructure and operations to ensure wider access to student loans.
He reiterated the goal of 100 per cent accessibility for eligible Tanzanians. PM Majaliwa acknowledged the Board’s achievements since its inception and noted that bringing key stakeholders together to mark this milestone was a valuable opportunity for reflection and improvement.
“This is a valuable opportunity to learn from various stakeholders and a catalyst for conducting a thorough assessment of the development of this crucial institution,” he said.
The Prime Minister emphasised that over the past 20 years, HESLB has gained significant experience and maturity, enabling 830,000 students to benefit from loans, with a total of 8.2tri/- disbursed.
He praised the Board for keeping pace with technological advancements and successfully collecting 1.5tri/- from loan beneficiaries, out of the 2.1tri/- earmarked for repayment.
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PM Majaliwa commended the Board’s efforts to track loan defaulters through partnerships with government and private institutions to share employee data.
He urged HESLB to intensify public awareness campaigns on eligibility criteria, priority programmes and application procedures to ensure that more Tanzanians are well-informed.
He also directed the Board to enhance its database system and strengthen collaboration with the National Identification Authority (NIDA) and other relevant agencies to track loan beneficiaries effectively.
He also reminded employers, both in the public and private sectors, to fulfill their legal obligations by remitting loan deductions, emphasising that loan repayments are crucial for funding future students.
“I am aware that some employers have not been remitting loan deductions as required by law. I remind all employers that loans provided must be repaid to continue funding future students. Therefore, I call on all public and private sector employers to cooperate with the Loan Board to ensure that all beneficiaries repay their loans,” he stressed.
The Prime Minister also encouraged all loan beneficiaries, including those in employment and entrepreneurship, to be responsible and patriotic by repaying their loans, allowing more students to access higher education funding.
He urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation to continue supporting Tanzanians in the diaspora who are loan beneficiaries in facilitating their repayments.
Minister for Education, Science and Technology, Prof Adolf Mkenda, highlighted the government’s commitment to increasing loan funds.
He noted that when President Samia assumed office, the allocation for higher education student loans was 464bn/- , but she directed an increase to 570bn/- , then 654bn/- and now 731bn/-.
He further stated that, under President Samia’s leadership, funds have been allocated to support scholarships in sciencerelated fields through the Samia Scholarship initiative, which initially started with 3.0bn/-, increased to 6.0bn/- and now stands at 8.9bn
