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Minister Godfrey Gandawa

Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Correspondent
GOVERNMENT has said graduates who were bonded under its phased out cadetship programme can buy themselves out of the scheme by paying the required fees to access original copies of their certificates.

Students who were under the cadetship scheme were bonded for three years with Government directing tertiary institutions to issue photocopies of certificates to enable them to search for jobs.

However, graduates intending to search for employment outside the country had challenges using the certified copies to secure employment.

In an interview yesterday, Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Deputy Minister Dr Godfrey Gandawa said bonded students can now buy themselves out of the bonding system to access their original certificates.

He said graduates can pay the fees required by their former institutions before being issued with original certificates instead of waiting for three years of bonding.

“On their contracts it was agreed that they will get certified copies of their certificate not the original certificates until the money is cleared. They will not use those copies to look for employment but there is now a programme. Should they want to exit or clear the bonding they can buy themselves out of the bonding,” said Dr Gandawa.

“In most cases people who want original certificates are those who want to go out of the country.

“So we say if you want go out of the country and want your certificates, you’ll pay the amount required by the institution and get your certificates. But if you want to look for employment locally, the university or college is obliged to give you a certified copy of your results because the debt is Government’s debt.”

Recently, Government announced that it had phased out the student cadetship programme at tertiary institutions in anticipation of the re-introduction of student loans.

@nqotshili