Mafeteng, 17 March __ At least 1270 Orphaned and Vulnerable Children have got sponsorship under the Bursary Scheme through the Ministry of Gender, Youth and Social Development to further their education for 2026 academic year.

The initiative is for the beneficiaries to complete their secondary education for students who were selected from applications made to the ministry between January and February. 

In an interview with the District Senior Welfare Manager Mr. Bernard Mokhachane said out of 1,510 only 1270 received bursary while 240 applications were unsuccessful, due to various reasons that include parents who applied but not meeting the criteria.

He highlighted that other applications were unsuccessful as a result of shortage of supporting documents like death certificates of their parents, birth certificates of the applicants while others were lacking letters from their guardians and chief's letters confirming their vulnerability, saying they are regretful for those who did not get the sponsorship following the mentioned reasons.

Mr. Mokhachane indicated that announcement was made early January this year through local authorities calling for the entitled parents and guardians to apply for the bursary scheme listing all needed documents but to their surprise some applications were lacking supporting documents thus contributing their failure to be approved even though some of the children really need financial support.  

He stated that in ensuring that every child get the opportunity they were given an opportunity of sending their applications within their respective community councils rather than taking them to Social Development Office located in town as some of them it would be difficult to have transport to town.   

District Senior Welfare Manager however clarified that the sponsorship took the beneficiary from Grade eight to eleven and clarified that if ever such beneficiary could fail ministry will withdraw the sponsorship for that academic year and will reinstate him/her after passing the repeated class, advising them to study hard to retain their sponsorship.

He however expressed concern over parents who have lost their responsibility of leaving their parents with children, asking them to also ensure that grade seven pupils are holding their birth certificate being one of the needed documents for children to seat for Grade Seven examinations and said with children not attending school the country will not win the battle against early marriage, gender-based violence, children attending initiation schools including misuse of substance.     

The Department of Social Development is mandated in ensuring welfare of vulnerable groups of society that include the elderly, vulnerable households, the disabled persons and others through provision of grants being offered either quarterly or monthly basis.