PARLIAMENT ENACTS STUDENTS' LOAN SCHEME FUND ACT, 2021

The Parliament of Sierra Leone has passed into law the Bill entitled: "The Students' Loan Scheme Fund Act, 2021" with a view to providing financial assistance to students of tertiary institutions in Sierra Leone, facilitating increased enrolment in higher education and promoting the right to education to all Sierra Leoneans.

Being an Act that seeks to compliment the Government Grant-in-Aid (GIA), the Students' Loan Scheme would allow tertiary institutions to get their resources at the start of their academic term as well as trigger quality assurance in a bid to empower students to take full responsibility of their education.

In piloting the Bill in the Well of Parliament, the Minister of Technical and Higher Education, Prof. Alpha Tejan Wurie, noted that the increase in number of students that are accessing tertiary institutions creates a huge potential for the Grant-in-Aid (GIA) to eventually become unsustainable, and therefore, Government considers the Loan Scheme as another mode of funding tertiary education. According to Prof. Wurie, the scheme is meant for Sierra Leonean students, including those that are going for technical and vocational education.

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