Higher education minister Itah Kandjii-Murangi said both Unam and Nust urgently need N$9,4m to expand their bandwidth for enhancing e-learning.

Addressing the Covid-19 Communications Centre Monday, Kandjii-Murangi said Nust requires N$2,4m to upgrade their bandwidth capacity, while Unam will need to invest N$7m to upgrade the saver and storage facility.

The minister said all needy students at local public and private higher education institutions who could not access online education due to lack of internet facility and appropriate computer equipment, will be provided.

Itah Kandjii-Murangi said improved and strengthened IT infrastructure at universities will help mitigate the negative impact of COVID-19 and will also place these institutions in a better position to embrace the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) related courses and programs.

Work, she added, is at an advanced stage to acquire the devices and equipment to be used by students at a highly subsidized cost, portable internet devises with 10 Gigabyte data per month for a year, and laptops to access e-Learning.

“The main distinguishing factor is that to benefit from this initiative, a student must be needy and must have been negatively affected by Covid-19 in the past 3-4 months.

“The survey was done, indicates that the Government Covid-19 support for the higher education sector will support over 32,000 needy students, locally,” the minister said.

According to Kandjii-Murangi, the government has already instituted a once-off payment support scheme for our students studying abroad.

Kandii-Murangi said the ministry adopted a holistic approach to mobilise the required resources to support the sector from the negative effects of Covid-19 and make sure that e-learning happens at various Higher Education Institutions.

“Some of the Funds are sourced from what is already available with NSFAF,” she said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

Ladies and Gentlemen
In conclusion, let me express my sincere appreciations to all Higher Education Institutions and Student Unions which have been involved in this process from inception.