Govt has lost $100m because students dropped out after taking TELS loan

The government has lost close to $100 million because students who have taken loans under the Tertiary Education Loan Scheme have dropped out of universities.

This has been confirmed by Acting Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Professor Biman Prasad who says these students got into universities, got the allowance, the universities got the tuition fees and students cannot pay that back after dropping out.

Professor Prasad says this has led to a loss of funding or funding that cannot be recovered because the students cannot pay the loan.

He says that was funding wasted through a scheme that was not managed properly so that is why it is being reviewed.

The Acting Prime Minister says the new scholarship scheme that will replace the original loan scheme is going to put out certain criteria so that people at all levels and not just those going to university can be systematically trained.

Professor Prasad says under the previous scheme there was no control of what people did so they ended up with thousands of students taking loans, getting into a university and dropping out.

He further says Australia and New Zealand have a huge appetite for skilled labour at all levels because Australia during COVID increased the number of hours students can work there and Fiji has had a loss of mid-level skills.

Professor Prasad says this is something that people are choosing but the government has already considered how they can address it.

He says they are already allocating funding for technical institutes to quickly provide competency-based training in areas such as the construction industry where people can be trained in a very short time to start laying tiles and paint properly and do basic carpentry work.

The Acting Prime Minister says tourism operators and hotels are bringing in people from nearby villages and are providing them with training.

He says they want to support this type of skilled-based training so there is at least a level of training that produces the quality of people that may fill the gap in labour.

Professor Prasad says they are also reviewing immigration policies as they may need labourers from outside the country.

Australian Chargé d'affaires to Fiji Stuart Watts says their Foreign Minister is clear that the PALM Scheme needs to work for both Fiji and Australia and that is a conversation they continue to have.

He has acknowledged the contribution Fijians have made in key industries and the challenges it has in Fiji.