Education

TELS arrangements to continue

January 18, 2023 2:02 pm

TSLS Office.

The Prime Minister has today announced that the current arrangements on Tertiary Education Loans Service or TELS will continue for Semester 1, 2023.

Sitiveni Rabuka also says that this will now be extended to students who want to undertake foundation studies, as this was not the case before.

He further stated that the cabinet in its meeting yesterday has also agreed to remove the vaccination requirement for TELS recipients and approved the deferment of debt repayment under the scheme to the Fiji Revenue and Customs Service until the relevant legislation is amended.

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Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka during his major announcement. 

These decisions were made following a submission from the Minister for Education Aseri Radrodro.

“Agreed that more time be given to the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance and the Solicitor General’s Office to thoroughly consider the legal and financial implications of the suspension of existing loan repayments and write-off for all outstanding students’ debts owed to government and to bring the necessary legislative and policy amendments back to cabinet.”


[File Photo]

The tertiary education loan stands at around $680m and there are currently 8, 000 students studying under the loans scheme.

The People’s Alliance during its campaign had stated that if its forms the next government it will remove the Tertiary Education Loans Scheme and National Toppers scholarships and replace them with full scholarships containing bond conditions.