Aggrieved Student Loan Beneficiaries urge government to disburse 3-year locked up funds

A group calling itself the Aggrieved Student Loan Beneficiaries have called on the Ministry of Finance and the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GetFUND) to disburse their funds which have been locked up for over the past three academic years.

The Student Loan Trust Fund (SLTF) is a public institution established under the Trustee Incorporation Act 1962, Act 106 to provide financial resources for the benefit of students and to promote and facilitate the national ideals as enshrined in Articles 25 and 38 of the 1992 constitution.

The Aggrieved Student Loan Beneficiaries indicated in their report that there have been checks and researches conducted by some of their members which show that the Students Loan and Trust Fund (SLTF) lack funds to disburse to beneficiaries, and has made SLTF operators stop updating beneficiaries about the progress of disbursement.

Public Relations Officer of Aggrieved Student Loan Beneficiaries, Orlando Daniel in an interview with UniversNews indicated that after an initial disbursement that took place early this year in January and in March, of which not all students were paid, there has not been any update from the Students Loan Trust Fund.

“It is not everybody that has received the first fund but then what we received from the office is that payment is still ongoing, each and every week or months when we call the story is still the same; payment is ongoing. And now when we call them, they don’t pick our call, we try our best to reach them but it has been unsuccessful,” he said.

He further added that the student leaders are under the impression that the Ministry of Finance is currently not willing to communicate with them as they have been kept frustrated after a scheduled meeting with the said Ministry was postponed.

“There’s no update on the meeting that we were supposed to have with the ministry. Now what the student leaders have realized is that they are not willing to meet us to explain to us what the problems really are; so we are frustrated in a way”.

He went ahead to mention that the Student Loan Trust Fund has made a publication on their website to allow student beneficiaries to apply for laptops. This Mr. Orlando Daniel says is also yet to be delivered.

Explaining the process of applying for the laptops Mr. Orlando Daniel stated that, “You go to the websites, you download the forms, submit to the zonal office and then when the laptops are ready, they will call you to come for it but students have applied and that’s the end. They’ve not heard anything from the office”.

He then revealed that the “National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) have been missing from the picture”, with regards to efforts to get the funds paid to the beneficiaries.

The Aggrieved Student Loan Beneficiaries is, however, pleading with the President, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ghana Education Trust Fund to release the funds of students.