Government to Restructure Students Loan Scheme

The government is in the process of restructuring the Students Loan Scheme to ensure that the relative cost of the various programmes were taken into consideration in granting the loans.

The restructuring, when completed, would enable students to obtain the necessary funding for their education, Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, Minister of Education announced in Kumasi yesterday.

Addressing the 36th annual congress of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), he said the Students Loans Scheme currently is facing serious challenges.

Professor Ameyaw-Akumfi said the amount of loan granted to students is the same for all categories of students irrespective of their programmes of study and financial situations.

The four-day congress has as its theme: "Higher commitment to education at all levels by government; A necessary tool for sustainable national development".

The Education Minister said for the new scheme to be sustainable, it would be necessary for students to assist in the campaign against borrower default to ensure continuous flow of funds for disbursement.

"Instead of declaring a negative stance against the modified scheme, I entreat students to look at the draft document critically and come up with ways of improving on it".

He said the challenges confronting tertiary education call for harnessing of resources from all stakeholders.

He said the increasing number of qualified applicants and increasing numbers of students and pupils at the lower levels, increasing annual enrolments in public universities and inadequate resources leading to pressure on existing facilities leading to deterioration, demand that the state forms partnerships with the private sector to finance tertiary education.