Students on government scholarship in China are reportedly stranded following government failure to give them their monthly stipends and book allowance for the past 12 months.
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Students on govt scholarship in China stranded
The students, numbering about 30, were awarded Scholarship by the Scholarship Secretariat of Ghana between the period 2012 and 2015 to pursue various courses leading to the award of Masters’ and PhD degrees in varied Universities in P.R China.
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A statement signed by the students said The terms of the award dictates that the Scholarship Secretariat advance to us through the Ghana Mission in Beijing, a monthly stipend for our upkeep and an annual book allowance. But as at 31st December 2015, none of these monies have been paid us from January 2015, thus, a period of 12 months of non-payment.
The aggrieved students added that their complaints to the Scholarships Secretariat and the Ghana Mission in Beijing have yielded no results.
"We have, since October, 2015, had several communications with the Ghana Mission in Beijing seeking to find solutions to some of these challenges but all to no avail. Every time we have made contact with the two state institutions, the Scholarships Secretariat and the Ghana Mission in Beijing responsible for our upkeep and welfare, the responses we have received are always conflicting to say the least."
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According to the statement, the Secretariat, in a response claimed that allocations for them in the 2015 budget are yet to be released by the Finance Ministry.
"A claim which we find a little awkward, in that, the 2015 fiscal year is ended, and yet we are being told that budget allocation for 2015 is yet to be released. According to the Secretariat, all these reasons have culminated in the non-payment of our stipend till date," the students said.
According to the aggrieved students, they have suspended their research works, which if further delayed will not guarantee their timely graduation.
"A more serious situation is that of students who are graduating at the end of this month (January, 2016) and have already been notified by their various institutions to settle their accommodation and utilities bills, and vacate their rooms before the start of the winter break. This batch of students have neither been provided their return ticket as stipulated in the contract letter nor have they been advised as to what to do when evicted," the statement added.
They are therefore appealing to authorities to "take action quickly to especially assuage the headache of those whose visas are due to expire in January and those whose research works have stalled."
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