Zanzibar govt stops sending students abroad

BY THE GUARDIAN REPORTER

10th April 2013

Zanzibar's Minister of Education and Vocational Training Ali Juma Shamhuna

The revolutionary government of Zanzibar has stopped sending students overseas for studies the courses that are also available in the isles and Tanzania Mainland.

Zanzibar’s Minister of Education and Vocational Training Ali Juma Shamhuna disclosed this in the House of Representatives when responding to a question by Muyuni Representative (CCM) Jaku Hashim Ayoub.

He said that expenses of sending students overseas were overwhelming, whereby a student undertaking a doctorate in medicine spends up to 56m/- in six years.

“The government has decided to stop sending students overseas for courses that are also available in the country's universities," Shamhuna said. 

He urged parents to continue supporting their children studying abroad by providing them with subsistence allowances in case of government delays in sending them the money.
“Government delays in sending the money to overseas students should not be the reason for them to fail in their studies,” he said.

He said in the previous financial year the government planned to spend over 8bn/- for higher learning institutions through the Zanzibar Loans Board. By last month the government had spent about 4.4bn/-, about 53 percent of the allocated money.

Shamhuna said according to the country’s laws students studying overseas are not allowed to engage in any form of employment as doing so is violation of the law.

Representative Jaku Hashim Ayoub had wanted to know why students studying overseas have been complaining over stipends, forcing them to engage in menial job for survival. 

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN