Accra, Jan. 31, GNA – The Students Loan
Trust Fund (SLTF) on Friday pledged to disburse all required funds to
beneficiaries for the 2019/20 academic year soon.
According to a statement from SLTF signed by
Mr George Ferguson Laing, the Senior Public Relations Manager to the Ghana News
Agency, the SLTF was engaging relevant stakeholders such as the Ministries of
Education and Finance, and GETFUND to make financing available to pay students
as soon as possible.
The Fund acknowledged calls from some
student groups for speedy disbursement of loans for the 2019/2020 academic year.
“We recognize that students in over 100
tertiary institutions across the country rely on student loans for various
uses, including the payment of fees, accommodation, and the purchase of books
as well as general living expenses. We are working assiduously to restore the
situation to normalcy.”
From the beginning of the academic year, the
statement said SLTF had been disbursing loans to students in batches.
However, the challenge was that the Trust
Fund was not able to pay all beneficiaries at the same time.
The main sources of funding for the Fund,
the statement explained were receipts from the GETFUND, Communications Service
Tax and repayments from beneficiaries of the Fund.
The Fund for some time now had been forced
to rely heavily on recovered loans to disburse to students due to delays in the
release of funds from the other sources.
The statement said the Fund as a result, had
employed various strategies to recover funds from borrowers.
“Much as our recovery strategies have been
successful, funds recovered are not adequate to disburse to all students at a
go.
“Over the past few days, the management of
the Fund has met with various student groups, including executives of the
National Union of Ghana Students, the University Students Association of Ghana,
the Ghana Union of Professional Students and the Private University Students
Association of Ghana,” the statement said.
It noted that management of the Fund,
explained the challenges they faced to the student leadership, and urged them
to continue to exercise restraint as Government worked to resolve the issues.
GNA
