Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
Prof. Nkandu Luo
Over 4, 612 students have been awarded scholarships for the 2018/2019 academic year across all the Technical Education, Vocational Training and Entrepreneurship Training (TEVET) institutions in the country.
Higher Education Minister Professor Nkandu Luo says of the 4, 612 students, about 1,447 are female representing 31 percent, while 3, 165 are male.
Professor Luo has told journalists in Lusaka that government will continue to award more TEVET bursaries to the rural students to ensure more skills development and poverty reduction.
She adds that government will continue funding skills development and ensure training is demand driven and meets the development aspirations of the country.
And Professor Luo says 2,890 students have been awarded loans at the Copperbelt University (CBU) for the 2017/2018 academic year.
She says a total number of 4,025 applications were received with 222 applicants not meeting the set requirements, while 913 eligible students could not be awarded loans due to budgetary constraints.
Professor Luo adds that the Ministry has also awarded 2,172 students loans from the 2,233 applications received to first year students at the University of Zambia for the 2017/2018 academic year under the Loans and Scholarships Board.
She explains that from the 2,233 applicants, 62 were ineligible because 40 were accepted into university under parallel, while 14 were found to be children of members of staff at the university which means that they are under a tuition waiver thus they could not be considered.
Meanwhile Professor Luo says her ministry has also offered 1,710 scholarships under the Support to Science, Technology Education project (SSTEP) in Colleges.