Graduate students to stage protest march to back demand for payment of grants
The Graduate Students Association of Ghana (GRASAG), has threatened to hit the street on Saturday, July 25, if the government failed to release thesis and bursary grants to its members latest by Friday.
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The association has also declared its intention to take legal action against the government, should its planned demonstration fail to yield any positive result.
At a news conference in Accra last Tuesday, the National President of GRASAG, Mr Abengo Osman, said government “has totally shown a laissez-faire attitude and lack of commitment towards the payment of our thesis and bursary grants”.
“What is more disappointing is that the government, through the Scholarship Secretariat, has given priority to our colleagues abroad pursuing post-graduate studies and spending thousands of dollars on them,” he said.
According to Mr Osman, GRASAG’s patience had been overly stretched by the government, adding that “we are no longer in control of our members who are agitated and may soon resort to very unpleasant means to bring attention to the matter”.
GRASAG is furious
Mr Osman said the association would begin to express the fury of members on Saturday, at the University of Ghana, where members of GRASAG would wear black attire and red arm bands to meet any government official who would be at the event.
“We have given the government the next three working days to pay our thesis and bursary grants else we will hold placards on Saturday during the graduation ceremony in Legon,” he said.
According to Mr Osman, the association had the permission of the Police to stage the protest, adding that the police would be present.
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Financial burden
He said the delay in releasing the thesis and bursary grants to members of GRASAG had put members in undue financial hardships.
“The delay has compelled almost all colleagues to resort to loans from friends, microfinance companies in order to finance their research work, in an anticipation that the government was going to pay the thesis and bursary grants on time so they can pay back the loans they took,” Mr Osman said.
Another devastating effect of the delay, he said, had been the inability of some members of GRASAG, especially those in the final year to complete their thesis.
“This creates a further financial burden on the students since they are made to pay for extension fees, which is about 50 per cent of the total fee for the academic year,” he said.