Create loans for university students

Mar 04, 2009

EDITOR—For many years, the system of government sponsorship has favoured schools in urban areas and students from rich families to the detriment of poor students and rural schools.

EDITOR—For many years, the system of government sponsorship has favoured schools in urban areas and students from rich families to the detriment of poor students and rural schools.

Everybody knows about this inequality in the criteria used in the government sponsorship programme yet nobody seems to care.

The rich people, who can send their children to the best schools in the country, should not benefit from free education at the expense of the poor and rural schools.

While we cannot easily end the disparities in the standards of teaching in schools, the Government can bring fairness by allowing anybody who qualifies for university intake to get sponsorship through the students’ loan scheme.

The scheme levels the playing field by allowing all who qualify for university education to be treated equally.

How else would you explain the fact that the so-called bright students on government sponsorship and those on private sponsorship are allowed to attend the same lectures and write the same exams?

The Government and the universities can create grants and bursaries to encourage students to select specific courses.

This can be done in various disciplines by the Government or private entities who may have interest in attaining more graduates in specific fields.

The idea of sponsoring only 4,000 students is due to budgetary constraints, but this should not be determined by one’s A’level grade, but should be on the need basis as long as one qualifies.

Sam Oling
samlng@yahoo.ca

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