Koforidua, July 19, GNA - The Students' Representative Council (SRC) of All Nations University College (ANUC), Koforidua, has appealed to the Government to allow continuing students in tertiary institutions to benefit from the new Students Loan Trust (SLT), which was recently announced by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports.
In a statement issued in Koforidua on Tuesday and signed
by the SRC President, Kwabena Yirenkyi and Secretary, Andrew
Adjetey, the appeal was based on the inability of many
continuing students to find the required number of guarantors
under the currently operating SSNIT Loan Scheme, which the
SLT had come to replace. While commending the Government for the introduction of
the SLT, it was of the view that, "instead of only "freshers", the
SLT should be expanded to cover continuing students, who due
to lack of guarantors, could not access the SSNIT loan and
therefore, unable to cope with the financial burden of fees and
have deferred their courses." The statement believed that "such a mitigation would go a
long way to accelerate the empowerment process of human
resource development of the country." It reiterated the commitment of the student body towards
the enhancement of education in the country and expressed
appreciation for the favourable policies being fashioned by the
Government in this regard. The SLT is to replace the SSNIT Loan Scheme due to a
number of difficulties, especially the failure of many
beneficiaries to repay loans granted them, leading to a huge
portfolio of debt that sought to affect the operations of the
Social Security and National Insurance Trust. The SLT enables students in accredited tertiary institutions
to receive state resources to fund their programmes.
