According to the annual Student Loan Scheme Performance Audit report released by the Auditor General, MVR 1.8 billion was disbursed to students from 2014 to 2019, while the outstanding amount of student loans amounted to MVR 173 million.
Minister of Higher Education, Dr. Mariyam Mariya, has urged students to repay their outstanding loans.
According to statistics released by the previous government, the number of loans issued was above 10,000, with only 10 percent of students regularly repaying their loans.
Former Minister of Higher Education, Dr. Ibrahim Hassan, had stated that he would go to court, if necessary, to recover outstanding loan payments.
During a press conference held last Thursday, when Mihaaru News inquired whether the government would make an attempt to recover the money, the Minister said that efforts would be made for it.
As part of their efforts to recover the money, the Minister stated that students are advised to enter the workforce after completing their studies and repay their loans responsibly.
"The government is providing aid to students. It is their responsibility, which we want to encourage them to take. We do not want to be harsh, but we want to advise them that this is their responsibility," she said.
The student loans will be disbursed through a revolving fund, said State Minister for Higher Education Ahmed Shafeeu.
"However, we have been unable to commence utilizing the fund due to a few issues in repayment," Shafeeu said.
While there are students who do not repay their loans, he added that there are also those who make payments regularly. He stated that it was challenging to secure repayment for student loans as they were unable to perform tasks like checking if the students were employed after completing their studies.
The first thing that needs to be done is to gather accurate information about the students, he said.
"As much as possible, we have to ensure the establishment of a well-organized system to keep track of students. Even if a legal solution is sought for repayments, the most important thing is to treat everyone fairly," he said.
He said that efforts would be made to raise money for the revolving fund, otherwise, they would always have to issue loans with funding from the budget.
According to the annual Student Loan Scheme Performance Audit report released by the Auditor General, MVR 1.8 billion was disbursed to students from 2014 to 2019. The audit report also disclosed that the outstanding amount of student loans amounted to MVR 173 million.
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