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About 30 Ghanaian graduate students on government scholarships in China have not been receiving their monthly stipend for the past 12 months.

The students, who were awarded Scholarships by the Scholarship Secretariat of Ghana between 2012 and 2015 to pursue various courses in varied Universities in China, have not received their stipends and book allowances due them since January 2015.

Read their full statement below

SOS APPEAL: GHANAIAN STUDENTS ON GOVERNMENT OF GHANA SCHOLARSHIP STUDYING IN CHINA ARE SITTING ON A TIME BOMB AS OUR SCHOLARSHIP ALLOWANCE UNJUSTIFIABLY DELAYS


About 30 students who 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, are currently sitting on a time bomb.

Consistent with the terms outlined in our contract letters, we have up until this point held our end of the contract and intend to continue, however, we are appallingly demoralized and disheartened to say that our awarding agency, the Scholarships Secretariat, has not lived up to their end of the bargain, and thus, while our academic works have stalled, our means of livelihood is at the mercy of friends.

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.

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. Therefore as a group, we wrote (find attached) to the Scholarship Secretariat seeking official clarification. In response to our request, the Scholarships Secretariat alleges that the Mission in Beijing has not been forthcoming with payment reports of monies previously advanced to them for disbursement to students and so the Secretariat is unaware of the number of students currently on the Missions register. In addition, the Secretariat also claims 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.

We reckon that these are reputable state institutions, (both the Scholarships Secretariat and the Ghana Mission in Beijing), however, it is apparent to us that the seemingly lack of trust and/or communication between them is adversely affecting the performance of their duties for which they so exist.

It will also be recalled that not so long ago, some students on Government of Ghana Scholarship in another country had a very similar problem and were paid only when the issue popped up in the  media. At that time, the Registrar of Scholarships promised no such incidence will repeat itself, but we are afraid to say that in our current situation, that promise seems to have been a lip service.

We are therefore imploring your outfit, humbly though, to help us carry our concerns through your medium for the authorities that matter to hear our cry. And in the long term, we will like to appeal to you as a news agency to further investigate the real underlining reasons why for 12 months students could not be paid their monthly stipend so as to prevent the re-occurrence of this situation.

Flight tickets to China were borne by individual students; however, as part of the award package, upon completion of our various courses, a graduate’s return ticket to Ghana will be provided by the Scholarships Secretariat.

All students under this award are either Masters’ or PhD students and therefore utilize part of their stipend to fund their research works, as a result, most students 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.

We are therefore strongly compelled to draw the attention of our nation through your reputable medium and to appeal to the 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.