The Senate's version of the controversial amendment to the Student Loan Fund (SLF) Act, in which the Upper House decided to retain interest and fines for defaulters, was given the all-clear by the House of Representatives on Wednesday despite strong opposition by several MPs.
The bill was put to a vote and approved after four hours of heated debate. The vote was 226 in favour of the Senate-amended bill and 11 against, with 60 abstentions.
The Senate made changes to the bill, which include retaining a charge of 1% interest on loans per year and making defaulters pay a fine of 0.5% annually, as opposed to the no-interest and fine-free version of the bill previously proposed by the Lower House.
