Investing in higher education is very important and that is why HELB supports higher education through student financing. Over the years, inadequate funding has remained a constant challenge for HELB, with a Government that is stretched in terms of funding other national development plans. However, we keep engaging Parliament, the Ministry of Education, and The National Treasury to see if we can consistently increase the allocation to HELB to support more young people.
HELB’s vision is to be able to finance everyone that is seeking a loan to advance themselves by way of higher education and to the extent that we are not able to meet that it becomes a matter of great concern for us, and we are consistently looking for ways to see how we can raise more money. My greatest concern is what will happen to this youth bulge if we cannot get into employment or gainful self-employment. What will happen to a country with an educated population that has not been gainfully engaged whether in employment or self-employment?
We are grateful for the partners that have given money to be able to finance but we do not enough resources and that is a reality and the challenge that is facing us at the moment. Partnership Development and External Resource Mobilization, therefore, is increasing an area of focus for HELB. The private sector can play a strong role in increasing the HELB resource latitude. Professional societies can partner with HELB and increase the number of future professionals in their areas of expertise.