Koforidua, July 19, GNA - The Students' Representative Council (SRC) of All Nations University College (ANUC), Koforidua, has appealed to the Government to allow continuing students in tertiary institutions to benefit from the new Students Loan Trust (SLT), which was recently announced by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports.

In a statement issued in Koforidua on Tuesday and signed

by the SRC President, Kwabena Yirenkyi and Secretary, Andrew

Adjetey, the appeal was based on the inability of many

continuing students to find the required number of guarantors

under the currently operating SSNIT Loan Scheme, which the

SLT had come to replace. While commending the Government for the introduction of

the SLT, it was of the view that, "instead of only "freshers", the

SLT should be expanded to cover continuing students, who due

to lack of guarantors, could not access the SSNIT loan and

therefore, unable to cope with the financial burden of fees and

have deferred their courses." The statement believed that "such a mitigation would go a

long way to accelerate the empowerment process of human

resource development of the country." It reiterated the commitment of the student body towards

the enhancement of education in the country and expressed

appreciation for the favourable policies being fashioned by the

Government in this regard. The SLT is to replace the SSNIT Loan Scheme due to a

number of difficulties, especially the failure of many

beneficiaries to repay loans granted them, leading to a huge

portfolio of debt that sought to affect the operations of the

Social Security and National Insurance Trust. The SLT enables students in accredited tertiary institutions

to receive state resources to fund their programmes.