The Tertiary Scholarships & Loans Service (TSLS) has so far disbursed $13 million through M-PAiSA to sponsored students this year and this amount is projected to be around $25 million by end of this year.
The increase is attributed to the increase in sponsored numbers this year when compared to average 13,000 active in last two years.
This year, 15,667 are sponsored by Fiji Government through TSLS.
Revealing these statistics while extending their partnership with Vodafone Fiji for another five years, TSLS chief executive, Dr Hasmukh Lal said from 2018 to date $81 million has been disbursed through M-PAiSA.
Dr Lal highlighted that the average disbursement of allowance in the first 4 years was $8 million annually and this figure reached $18 million annually in 2022 and 2023.
This shows 125 per cent increase in students opting for M-PAiSA to receive their allowances.
“Provision of services through digital means is aligned to the TSLS Strategic focus areas of ICT Transformation and Customer Service Excellence”, said Dr Lal.
“TSLS not only ensures efficient service delivery but delivers right solutions in the
first place by responding to emerging trends in this digital economy and is committed to expand service delivery through digital means and M-PAiSA platform is one of the many avenues TSLS is using for reliable and convenient service to the students.”
The first Memorandum of Understating (MoU) between TSLS and Vodafone’s M-PAiSA was signed in 2018, to deposit allowance for sponsored students since TSLS provides the option to students to have their allowance deposited in their mobile wallet or in the bank account.
Head of eCommerce and Digital Financial Service for Vodafone Fiji, Shailendra Prasad said they are pleases to continue their partnership with TSLS.
“It is now an accepted fact that M-PAiSA is a significant player in Fiji’s financial service ecosystem. It provides the convenience of 24 x 7 access from the mobile phone – a gadget that is a student’s most trusted companion in the digital era.”, said Prasad.
“Vodafone also offers a number of benefits to students through its exclusive student SIM offer such as free access to USP, FNU and UNI Fiji websites, Recharge bonanza everyday, unlimited on-net calls and SMS. These are all accessible via M-PAiSA also”.
“The M-PAiSA Mastercard offers opportunity to students to subscribe to online educational and learning sites such as ChatGpt or Googles Gemini which could give them an edge in their assignments and projects.”
“Students can also subscribe to online streaming sites such as Netflix, Amazon Prime or Zee5 with free 100GB monthly streaming data when they need to take a break from studies for some entertainment on the go.”
“These benefits are available exclusively through M-PAiSA part of myriad of services that Vodafone offers,” Prasad added.
