Study loans lined up for all civil servants

Civil servants who intend to pursue further studies have a reason to smile after the government set up a revolving fund for training.

The state employees will benefit from study loans ranging from Sh30,000 to Sh500,000 per year under the Training Revolving Fund(TRV).

They have been asked to apply for the funds, which will be administered by the Higher Education Loans Board(Helb).

In a circular to civil servants dated December 21 last year, Public Service ministry Permanent Secretary Titus Ndambuki said the kitty will complement other sources of funding by providing staff who want to develop their careers an opportunity to borrow money.

But only those who want to study for Masters and postgraduate courses in technical and highly specialised areas will have access to the fund.

The loans will attract an annual interest rate of four per cent to be paid by the borrowers.

“The public service is emerging from the traditional approach where the government was solely responsible for training.

“Employees should now be responsible for their self-development,” said Mr Ndambuki.

Ministries have been asked to submit names of employees seeking to benefit from the TRV this year.

Helb will consider the applications from eligible public servants identified by their ministries and pick the beneficiaries.

After completing their studies, public servants will submit the acquired certificates to ministries and be bonded.

According to Mr Ndambuki, the funds will be disbursed for only examinable training programmes that will take more than three months.

The monies will cater for tuition, library, computer and research work. However, civil servants who benefited from government training two years ago and those who have not repaid or have just started paying previous Helb loans are not eligible.