Jale Daucakacaka 
TSLS Chief Executive Officer , Hasmukh Lal.
The Tertiary Scholarship and Loans Service will be working with relevant government agencies and the private sector to address the large number of students not completing their studies.
Chief Executive, Hasmukh Lal highlighted this while revealing that the government is yet to recover $160 million from 21, 685 students who are either yet to graduate, absconded from their studies or are inactive.
He says about 70 percent of this figure are students who were assisted between 2014 and 2020.
Lal states they are in discussion with the Ministry of Education on possibly having screening sessions with prospective students before they apply for TSLS assistance.
“I will also be pursuing discussions with the Ministry of Education, going forward for those people who want to become teachers, if the ministry could interview them first before we award the scholarship. Similarly with the Ministry of Health, if they could in consultation with Fiji Medical Association or any other petitioner body in the health sector. They can screen and interview the students, give us the names and we can award the scholarships. This is another way of reducing the numbers of those students who don’t continue.”
A recent survey by TSLS reveals that students discontinue their studies locally, after securing their jobs overseas or getting an opportunity to study abroad.
As a result, Lal says when successful, these candidates opt for another field of study or simply stop their studies.
He says there are currently 11, 625 students active on bond term, valued at $149 million.
Since it was established in 2014, 55,451 students have so far been assisted under TELS, at a value of $679 million.
22,141 students have also graduated under TELS assistance.
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