The figures have been announced today during a breakfast meeting that brought together employers and employees in private and public institutions together with other stakeholders in education loans recovery efforts to discuss measures forward to addressing the issue.
The CEO of BRD, Eric Rutabana has said that the bank took over the management after entering agreements with the Government of Rwanda in 2016 through the Ministry of Education.
He said that Rwf 70 billion had to be recovered at the time but highlighted that the journey is still long because only Rwf 10 billion has been recovered.
Rutabana however said that beneficiaries paying back are increasing overtime.
He revealed that since 2016 beneficiaries paid Rwf 1.4 billion, Rwf 2.4 billion in 2017 and Rwf 3.4 billion in 2018.
“It is improving gradually. Such event is meant to sensitize students’ loan beneficiaries and employers to help us along the journey to increase the number of beneficiaries paying back the loan,” he said.
He highlighted that only 12,000 beneficiaries out of 70,000 are actively paying back the loan.
Tracking beneficiaries who received non-electronic identities before 2008 is among challenges impeding fully implementation of loan recovery.
Rutabana said that the institution is working closely with National ID Agency (NIDA), Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) and Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB) among others to track records of past beneficiaries.
The Minister of Education, Dr. Eugene Mutimura thanked institutions contributing to loan recovery to support education of future generations and called on others to support the cause.
“Your efforts can not be taken for granted. It means you understand the importance of provision of loans to students so that they study and at the same time understand the importance of loan recovery and therefore the sustainability of this effort,” he said.
Best compliant institutions and individuals were also awarded during the event.
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