The National Union of Ghana Students, (NUGS) has set up a seven-member committee to negotiate with the Government to review the SSNIT students’ loan.
As a first step, the committee is proposing an adjustment from the current ?2 million loan to ?5 million. Chaired by the NUGS president, Mr. Kenneth Abotsi, the committee has representation from the various universities, graduate and professional students and teacher-trainees. The NUGS president told the “Times Newspaper” that the committee was also mandated to push for the establishment of a Students Loan Trust. He said the proposed Students Loan Trust was meant to respond to the peculiar needs of students according to their courses. It is not good enough for all students to be given ?2 million as loans,” he said adding that some courses were more expensive than others and therefore, required more funds.
According to Mr. Abotsi, when the trust was established, students would get varied loans based on the demands of their respective courses. The Students Loan Trust is one of the best things that could happen to students in the country,” he stressed. “We want to embrace it fully.” The NUGS president said the committee would press its case to ensure that the Trust became operational in the current academic year. He urged students to repay their loans after school to enable others to benefit from the scheme.
Mr. Abotsi was not happy about the perennial delays in the disbursement of students’ loans saying that adversely affected the academic work of most students. Calling for a drastic action to halt that unhealthy trend, he said students needed the loans to buy study materials and for other expenses, but unfortunately they received them at the end of the semester.
