08 Aug 2019

The Assistant Minister of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology, Mr Moiseraela Goya, has told Parliament that delays in processing payment of allowances is usually experienced at the beginning of a semester.

Mr Goya said the delays, when they do occur, would be as a result of challenges in the interface between Department Tertiary Education Financing (DTEF) and institutions.

He said in order for DTEF to pay out allowances, it needed to receive accurate information from institutions.

This, Mr Goya said, was provided in the form of registration lists. In some instances, he said institutions provided inaccurate information which DTEF could not use to disburse allowances.

“There are also those instances where institutions delay in submitting the registration lists. I wish to point out that during the semester, however, allowances are paid on time, on the 27th  of every month”, he said.

He further explained that in order for DTEF to pay out allowances for attachments and projects, it should have the necessary information on students who were destined for such activities.

The information had to be provided by institutions on time saying most in payments were paid late because some institutions submit requests late. In some instances, the students would have already started the attachment exercise. A further cause of delay would be submission of inaccurate information by institutions.

In addition, Mr Goya said the ministry, through the DTEF, continued to engage institutions in an endeavor to improve on the services rendered to students.

He was answering a question from MP for Gaborone North, Mr Haskins Nkaigwa who had asked the minister to state what causes the delay in crediting allowances for tertiary students, how students were expected to deliver on projects when their allowances were credited late even during attachments and to further explain what was  being done to address this anomaly. ends. ENDS