MUKAZA, March 23 (ABP) – “Any student who has benefited from a student loan grant must repay it as soon as they take up employment and/or engage in an income-generating activity. The minimum monthly repayment is 10% of the net monthly salary or monthly income after deduction of statutory withholdings,” states Article 2 of a ministerial order jointly signed on March 3, 2026, by the ministry of national education and scientific research, the ministry of labor, public service and social security, and the ministry of finance, budget and digital economy.
Article 3 of this tripartite order requires all employers in both the public and private sectors, including international organizations, to deduct 10% from the net monthly salaries of their employees who benefited from the student loan grant until the total amount specified in the loan agreement is fully repaid.
The main categories of public sector employers concerned include constitutional institutions and their affiliated structures, ministries, provincial administration composed of provincial offices and ministerial provincial directorates, external services (embassies), state agencies, public administration, industrial and/or commercial establishments, municipalities, public projects financed by domestic resources and development partners, among others.
The main categories of private sector employers targeted by the article include non-profit organizations (NGOs), credit institutions, cooperative societies, financial institutions, commercial companies, artisans and traders, NGOs, United Nations agencies and other international organizations, among others.
“Any employer, public or private, must, before signing a contract with an employee holding a university degree, require as part of the application file ‘a certificate of non-indebtedness with regard to the student loan grant’ issued by the Directorate of the Office of Scholarships and Internships (BBES). The certificate of non-indebtedness is issued upon presentation of payment receipts for the full repayment of the student loan grant into a transit account for non-tax revenues of the Burundi Revenue Authority (OBR),” emphasizes Article 4 of the mentioned joint ministerial order.
Therefore, an employer who finds that an employee has benefited from a student loan grant must make a deduction at source for its repayment. However, it is added that the beneficiary of a student loan grant may also repay it either in cash or by bank transfer, without prejudice to the provisions of Article 2 of this order. Repayment must be made into a transit account for non-tax revenues of the OBR, with the mention “repayment of student loan grant” on the payment receipt.
In the same logic, all employers are required to submit the list of their active employees who obtained their degrees from public universities and from private universities with a faculty of medicine, starting from the 2019-2020 academic year, to the ministry in charge of national education via the BBES directorate in the prescribed format. They are also required to submit the list of new recruits on the 15th day of the month following the date of recruitment. Beneficiaries of the student loan grant who do not appear on any of the lists submitted by employers must be reported to the tax administration in order to identify those engaged in other activities and proceed with recovery, as stated in Articles 6 and 7 of the said tripartite ministerial order.
For beneficiaries of the student loan grant recruited in the public service sector, their nominal list with the amount owed, in a format designed for this purpose, must be sent to the minister in charge of public service by the BBES to carry out salary deductions at source, with a copy to the supervising ministry and to the OBR. For employees of constitutional institutions benefiting from monthly or quarterly payments, their nominal list with the amount owed must be sent to the ministry in charge of finance after salary deductions have been made, with a copy to the OBR and to the BBES directorate, as specified in Articles 8 and 9 of the ministerial order.
It is further added in Article 10 that for beneficiaries of the student loan grant recruited within state agencies and public administrative establishments, their nominal list must be transmitted to the ministry responsible for finance after salary deductions have been made, with a copy to the OBR and the BBES directorate.
“The employee who voluntarily undertakes this repayment deposits the funds into the sub-account referred to in Article 5 of this order, which is opened for this purpose at the BRB or in financial institutions and settled the same day. A copy of the payment receipt is submitted to the BBES Directorate,” continues Article 11, specifying in the following article that deductions at source for repayment of the student loan grant for employees whose salaries are paid from the state budget or from internal funds are carried out by the internal services of the administrations to which they belong and transmitted either to the BRB or to the ministry in charge of finance, depending on the case.
“Any employer who fails to make the deduction of the student loan grant amount becomes liable for double the amount to be withheld,” warns Article 14. It is further added that the transfer of the deducted amount to the transit accounts for non-tax revenues must be made no later than the 15th day of the month following that in which the salaries are paid.
“The beneficiary of a student loan grant who is employed or who starts an income-generating activity is required to declare this to the BBES Directorate, which will indicate the repayment procedures. Failing this, penalties provided for in the student loan agreement may apply,” the document concludes.
By Willyfrid Vyamungu