The Tertiary Scholarships and Loan Services has spent $1.1 billion from the budget to assist 68,556 students in their 10 years of operation.

This has been highlighted by TSLS Chief Executive Dr Hasmukh Lal during the inaugural Innovation and Entrepreneurship Summit held in Labasa.

He says that out of the 68,556 students assisted through all the schemes available, a total of 29,471 have graduated.

“Now, as you can see, we now have 10 schemes. This is in line with Sustainable Development Goal 4, which is inclusive and equitable education for all, so these schemes are developed in line with the SDG’s 4. We have diversified our scholarship schemes, adding more schemes, and we also have more schemes coming up in the next budget.”

Lal adds that the total amount of taxpayer money spent has indicated the huge contribution Fiji has prioritized through tertiary education and training programs.

Plans are also in place to incentivize apprenticeship programs for students by looking at their current governance status and how successful it was back in the day.

Meanwhile, of the 68,556 TSLS students, about 55,612 are now converted to bonds; 11,044 are under scholarships; and 1,900 have been assisted through grants since 2014.