GOVERNMENT is to steer the Students' Loan Bureau (SLB) in a direction where it would be inclined towards areas of study deemed to be critical to national development.

Prime Minister Bruce Golding told the House of Representatives on Tuesday that a team comprising himself, education minister Andrew Holness and finance minister Audley Shaw recently met with the SLB to discuss the plan.

"We are going to have to influence the direction of student loan funds," the prime minister told members of the House.

Stimulating interest

The SLB is the largest financier of tertiary education in Jamaica.

On Tuesday, Golding said his administration was thinking about stimulating interest in areas of study for which there is a national demand.

"We are going to offer preferential terms for those areas of study that we feel are in national demand, and we are also going to improve access to those funds," the prime minister said.

Concerns have been raised about the ability of the SLB to finance tertiary education, especially in view of high levels of delinquency.

The prime minister told Parliament the delinquency was due mainly to students leaving universities and being unable to find employment.

Faced with dilemma

"The Students' Loan Bureau is faced with a dilemma. They are financing studies for students, many of whom, having qualified, are unable to find employment and therefore unable to pay back the money, and they become the subject of some persistent pressure from the Students' Loan Bureau to pay back," Golding said.

"But at the same time, within the public sector and the private sector ... we have a critical skill shortage that makes it difficult for us to deliver services."

According to Golding, the Government aims to implement a policy in which persons are trained for particular needs.