GOVERNMENT BLAMES STUDENTS/INSTITUTION FOR LATE PAYMENT OF ALLOWANCE
Following our front page story last week which revealed that, two months into the academic, year the government has still not paid post secondary students their allowance, an article surreptitiously inserted in the state controlled Seychelles Nation newspaper blamed the students for the state of affairs rather than admitting that it is the government that did not have the funds available.
Without any reference to this newspaper’s revelation, the article in Seychelles Nation said that the students will be receiving their allowance soon without any indication as to when this will happen. In the usual bureaucratic obfuscation, the official statement claims the Social Security Fund “is finalising the procedures so that the payment can begin”. Since the programme has been in existence for a number of years it begs the question, how long can it take to “finalise procedures”.
The article went on to blame the post secondary institutions for “handing in relevant forms”. The statement was attributed to an official of the Social Security Fund “who explained there is a set of procedures to be followed before the allowance is approved, and this exercise usually involves the input of the post-secondary instructions, the Ministry of Education and the Social Security office”. She gave the example of the SHTTC which sent in their forms “only last week”. But this excuse is nothing less than self serving. Why should the payment for all others be held up if one institution has been late? According to the latest statistics from National Statistical Bureau (NSB) in 2005 SHTTC accounted for only 259 out of the 1902 students in Post Secondary (non-tertiary) education. Surely this ratio could not have reversed for 2006.
In what can be described as condescending attitude, the Social Security official is reported as saying “the delay should not be a point of concern as students will be reimbursed for overdue payments”. If someone is living on the borderline of poverty, as many families of these students are, the money is needed for the month not afterwards. The Social Security official, a student reacted, would not be happy if she was told by her employer that she should not be unduly concerned if her salary was not paid last month “as she will be reimbursed for overdue payments.” Of course her family may not be living on the borderline of poverty.