Out of 192 billion cedis disbursed under the SSNIT Students' Loan Scheme since its inception in 1988, only 8.12 billion cedis has been recovered, Nii Okai Okantey, Acting General Finance Manager of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust said on Thursday.

This means that beneficiaries owe the scheme more than 183 billion cedis. "This situation does not promote sound business practice and the survival of the loan scheme," Nii Okantey said in a paper on the role of SSNIT in funding tertiary education.

"It simply jeopardises the future of generations to come and overburdens the guarantor when he is due for pension," he told a seminar at the on-going first national Education Fair at the Ghana International Trade Fair in Accra.

Nii Okantey said 403,421 students have benefited from the scheme since its inception but the poor repayment trend of beneficiaries cannot sustain the scheme to grant more loans to the rising number of students.

The Government also owes the scheme 167 billion in interest subsidy payment adding, "SSNIT loses income which affects the viability the fund."

Nii Okantey said 70,000 students would qualify for the loan in the coming academic year and this would require 84 billion cedis if 80 per cent of them take the loan.

However, the Trust can make available only 30 billion cedis, which is on one month's contribution, he said adding that the scheme cannot go beyond one month's contribution for disbursement to students as loan and welcomed the assistance from the Ghana Education Trust Fund to partially fund it.

Miss Vicky Wereko, Corporate Affairs Manager of UNILEVER Ghana Limited, said UNILEVER Ghana Foundation for Education and Development, which was established about two years ago, with a target fund of five billion cedis, is aimed at building knowledge, skills and capacity, unearthing talents and stretching the limits of human potential towards the nation's development.

She announced that 2.5 billion cedis would be injected into the fund for a period of 10 years, which would be reviewed after the period.

Mrs Elizabeth Asante of the Scholarship Secretariat, said there are various scholarship schemes, including Excellent Performance for secondary school students, the President's Award, Hardship Bursaries and the Northern Awards for disadvantaged second cycle school students who hail from the three northern regions and parts of the Brong Ahafo and Volta Regions. Others are the tertiary and overseas award for students who travel abroad for studies.