Minister of State for Government Scholarships in the President’s Office, Christopher Mushohwe has told students on State scholarships to stop protesting despite not receiving financial assistance in 15 months, as this taints the image of the country. His statement comes after over 300 students on Government scholarship in Algeria staged a demonstration at the Zimbabwean Embassy offices demanding to be paid stipends before they were dispersed by Algerian police.
Mushohwe said that most of the students that staged protests were not covered by Government scholarships. He acknowledged that the students had not received stipends in 2 years. Said Mushohwe:
The students out there do not seem to understand the economic situation. Instead of talking to us, they start picketing which is unfortunate and I don’t know why. That does not augur well for the image of our country.
There are parents who appealed to Higher Education Ministry after sending their children to different countries indicating that they were no longer able to pay. The ministry I am told, was just accommodating students who would have gone on their own. These are the students who are giving us most problems so we will try and re-organise and make sure that when we send students they should be budgeted for because we do not have a budget for people who send their children without Government approval.
It is true that students in most countries who are on the scholarships from Higher Education have not had their stipends paid due to economic difficulties.
But what I have done since I took over on the 9th of October is that we have started trying to mobilise some resources to pay students in different countries. We understand Higher Education has not been paying stipends for the past two years.
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