The Minister of Development Planning Honourable Tlohelang Aumane, launched the National Manpower Development Secretariat (NMDS) Students Sponsorship Management and Administration System (SSMAS), and its one shop facility at Lehakoe Recreational Centre and NMDS buildings in Maseru on the 28th June 2018.

Honorable Aumane launched this system in order to improve sustainability of the Loan Bursary Fund (LBF), and coverage of the beneficiaries in terms of quality and equity, efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of the bursaries.

According to the Ministry of Development Planning, the system will curb the level of dissatisfaction among Basotho, as the processes of provision of bursaries will be simpler and improved.

The Ministry emphasized that this system is the integral part of the Loan Bursary Fund Reforms (LBFR), that is currently being implemented at NMDS.

The SSMAS is also meant to address a wide range of management and administration challenges, that include manualized inefficient and ineffective processes application and award of bursaries and lengthy processing of payments to students, institutions and all clients.