Stranded students; a question of communication

Lately, news stories of students stranded at several institutions of higher learning have been, extensively reported in various media outlets. The students claim that they only found out at the last minute that their dreams of university education had been shattered.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Lately, news stories of students stranded at several institutions of higher learning have been, extensively reported in various media outlets.

The students claim that they only found out at the last minute that their dreams of university education had been shattered.

The reason being that; much as they qualified for university entrance, the Student Financing Agency of Rwanda (SFAR) could not finance them because they did not meet the criteria.

Now, what happens to these students? We cannot go into the blame games; SFAR and the students have valid reasons.

The students contend that their names appeared in Imvaho Nshya, a national newspaper, as candidates who had qualified for university admission. They went ahead and took part in Ingando, a national civic education training programme.

Usually, only those sponsored by the government through SFAR go for Ingando.

It’s obvious that there was poor communication on the part of the institutions involved.

The Ministry of Education has it in its powers to work around the problem and guide these institutions to resolve the issue and ensure the students don’t miss out.

Ends