Student grants unpaid for five months: 570 affected at Pedagogical University Zambezia

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Student grants unpaid for five months: 570 affected at Pedagogical University Zambezia

11:50 CAT | 08 Mar 2017

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A total of 570 students from the Universidade Pedgógica (Pedagogical University) in Quelimane have not received their grants since September 2016. Amounts of 2,500 meticais per month should have been transferred into the students’ accounts for five months now, but so far nothing has been paid.

Unable to obtain any explanation at university level, the students demonstrated in front of the provincial governor’s office. “We are worried about the money of the scholarship students that, since September last year, has not been paid. We went to the Social Affairs department of our college and they said they could not resolve the issue. That is why we have come to the governor, to see if he can,” bursary student Elbi de Jesus says.

The situation is even more embarrassing for fellow students coming from other districts and provinces, who say that they live in rented houses and use the money to pay rent and buy food and study materials. As a result, some of them are now without a place to live, since the owners of the houses they rent have locked the doors until the arrears are paid.

Such is the case of Carlitos Deixa. “The owners of the house where I live locked the door with my studying material inside, so I cannot get it to go to college,” he says.

Talking to the governor was not possible, ostensibly for timetabling reasons, but an official met three students to discuss the problem and told them that everything possible would be done to resolve the issue.

Following that, our newspaper contacted the provincial director of economy and finance in Zambézia, Graciano Francisco, who acknowledged that the payments were late, but said that measures were being taken to alleviate the situation.

Graciano said that he had arranged with university management for them to use their own revenue fund to pay just one month’s grant, and as soon as the government transfered funds, it would subtract the university contribution and deposit the rest into the students’ accounts.

However, David Mudzenguerere, head of the university’s social services department, said that while the university had every desire to mollify the students, it unfortunately did not have the money to do so.

Source: O País