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More than 35,000 graduates who benefited from the Students Loan Trust Fund (SLTF) have defaulted in the payment of their loans, amounting to GH�78 million. The fund has decided to launch an offensive against the beneficiaries, numbering 35,642, some of whom took the loans as far back as 2005, to collect the money. Managers of the fund fear the continued operation of the fund could be jeopardised if borrowers failed to repay their loans. The Board Chairman of the SLTF, Mr Andy Osei Okrah, told the Daily Graphic in Accra last Friday that the exercise to retrieve the money would start with an educational programme targeted at employers, the beneficiaries and their guarantors. "We are trying to identify establishments where beneficiaries are working to advise the employers on the need to deduct the repayments from the salaries of the beneficiary workers," he said. Section 24 of the Students Loan Trust Fund Act, 2011, Act 820 enjoins employers to ascertain from employees who are beneficiaries of student loans their status and report those who have not fully repaid their loans to the STLF. Employers are further mandated to withhold monthly instalments from the salaries of employees and remit same to the SLTF within 15 days after deduction All employers who fail to deduct and remit same to the SLTF commit an offence under Section 37 of the SLTF Act. Mr Okrah said the managers of the fund wanted to rely on the education first, believing that people would readily comply, saying the last resort was to go at the guarantors. The SLTF operates a revolving fund and Mr Okrah, who was appointed board chairman in September this year, said any lapse on the part of the managers to ensure that students repaid the loans could cripple the fund. Repayment system After completing their courses of study, beneficiary students are given a two-year grace period to start repayment. The board chairman explained that the repayment schedule had taken account of the fact that the first year after school was for national service. The beneficiary is expected to repay the loan over a five-year period. Currently, about 350,000 students, including those from colleges, the universities and polytechnics, are benefiting from the fund. Mr Okrah said the government had also directed students from nursing training institutions to access the facility and indicated that "we are working feverishly towards that". Sources of Funding Mr Okrah, who is also the Human Resource Manager of the Forestry Commission, said the SLTF was exploring other sources of funding to enhance its operations. Currently, funds accruing to the fund come from the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund). �Bringing in additional sources of funding will enable more students to access the fund,� he said.