HESLB DEADLINE APPROACHING "30 JUNE"

Apply for loans before joining National Service

Higher Education Student’s Loan Board (HESLB) yesterday called on students who just finished Form Six education to fill loan application forms before joining National Service as deadline for loan application will end next month. HESLB Assistant Director of Information Education and Communication Cosmas Mwaisobwa said in Dar es Salaam at the closing ceremony of 9th Exhibition of Higher Education Science and Technologies Innovation. He told The Guardian at HESLB pavilion that after the students join National Service (NS) camps they would be unable to get chance to apply for loans and urged them to use the few days that remain to fill the forms. The ceremony is organized every year by Tanzania Commission for Universities (TCU). Every year HESLB participates in TCU exhibition.  This year the purpose was first to explain to stakeholders how to fill loan applications through online system and second, to emphasise to this year’s ex- Form Six students to apply before joining NS. “This exhibition is good for us because we meet with ‘stakeholders,’ the students, to explain to them various issues about the board as well as criteria to apply for loans,” he said He further explained that in the current 9th exhibition the board will help know how to return loans as well as print statements so that beneficiaries will be able to follow deduction process and be able to know the status of their loans. A student, Kassimu Mayumu, praised TCU for organising   education stakeholders to get to know the various courses offered at various universities in the country. He said: “I am happy to visit the HELSB pavilion and praise the loan board for introducing online system that helps students to fill out forms. He called on the TCU to look into ways of increase more days at least one week of exhibition so that students can have more time to visit many pavilions. Exhibitor Lightness Ndossi challenged policy makers and education coordinators for failing to appear at the exhibition, saying in order for the stakeholders to learn widely the presence of the former was crucial. The 9th TCU exhibition that started on Wednesday where various universities participated was also attended by thousands of Dar es Salaam students and their parents.014