Fokothi to subsidize tuition for needy students

MOSA MAOENG

MASERU – In its bid to ease access to education for Basotho, Lerotholi Polytechnic (LP) has announced that it will provide a subsidy for students who enroll at the institution without the government scholarship.

Lerotholi Polytechnic Rector Professor, Spirit Tlali, made the announcement during a press briefing held on Wednesday this week.

The subsidy is categorised in four ways which is for fees paid in full within three months with a 20 percent subsidy, for fees paid in full within five months there is a 15 percent subsidy, for fees paid in full within 10 months (within the academic year) the subsidy is 10 percent.

Students who are top-achievers in their respective programmes of study at the end of any academic year in terms of the LP General Academic Regulations of 2021 shall be placed on the Rector’s list as recognition for their exceptional academic performance. Such students will receive a 10 percent subsidy towards their tuition fees.

Tlali added that the institution commenced degree programmes for the academic year 2023/2024, namely; Bachelor of Engineering in irrigation and drainage, Bachelor of Engineering Technology in Computer Engineering, Bachelor of Engineering Technology in Electronics and Telecommunications and Bachelor of Engineering Technology in power systems.

“After the institution introduced these programmes, it sought assistance from the National Manpower Development Secretariat (NMDS) for these programmes to receive sponsorship. The institution had requested that NMDS revises the sponsorship to a higher point since the newly introduced programmes are a way of aligning with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the National Strategic Development Plan II (NSDP II).

“We are grateful that NMDS was able to include these programmes as one of the sponsored programmes. However, NDMS will only sponsor 30 students from each programmes against the 60 that we had proposed. We have accepted 250 students from the four programmes and only 120 will be sponsored; the remaining 130 will sponsor themselves. It is in this regard that the school saw it fit that those students without government scholarship be provided subsidies,” he said.

Tlali also said that the changes will come into place starting from August as the 2024/2025 academic year commences. He added that the institution would like to appeal to the government, entrepreneurs and the nation at large to support the institution in any way that they see fit either through industrial attachments or by donating learning materials to the institution to assist students to learn.

He said the provision for the subsidies will go a long way and will be renewed if there needs be.

“The institution’s provision of subsidies will be alignment with the months that the fees will be paid for in full. If a person decides to pay for the tuition fee for a Bachelor of engineering degree in irrigation and drainage in full within three months of which the fee is M40, 491.93, the institution will provide a subsidy of M8, 092.20, which is 20 percent subsidy,” said Deputy Registrar, Communications & Marketing Kofo Matšaba.