SFAR to handle students’ claims next week

Following the increasing number of complaints that some students’ names are missing on the 2010 list of loan /bursary beneficiaries, an official at the Student Financing Agency for Rwanda (SFAR) has assured that all complaints will be handled next week. The Director of Loan/Bursary disbursement at the agency, Aviti Bagabo, yesterday explained that officials will be stationed at all government institutions of higher learning to deal with such complaints and the exercise will go on until Wednesday. “We released the lists of beneficiaries early this week and since then many students have thronged our offices complaining that their names are not on the list. “Our agency disburses grants and loans to students based on a legal framework. There are conditions under which a student must benefit from these funds and certainly most of the complainants were not eligible for the scholarships,” Bagabo told The New Times. SFAR statistics show that of the 6,962 applicants, 4,763 will be sponsored in three different categories based on grades attained and individual’s financial means. Bagabo said that one of the major misleading factors as regards loan/ bursary disbursement is media release of examination results. “When the Rwanda National Examination Council releases students’ results in some media outlets, many people are misled to think that names in the newspapers are those who will be sponsored. The students then forget that there are procedures such as loan applications,” he noted. “About 1,843 who claim that their names are not on the list are actually not eligible while 356 did not register or do not appear on the examination council’s list. “We do not want to victimize anyone or sponsor non-eligible students, therefore we are ready to deal with these complaints so that those who are not on the list can understand why,” Bagabo added. Meanwhile officials noted that beginning this year, SFAR is set to put in place a penalty system on former beneficiaries who delay to repay their loans. Currently 3,312 employees are remitting the money as expected while the others have been notified but are yet to respond. Ends