Management of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, KNUST has extended by one more month the grace period for defaulting students to settle at least 70 % of their school fees for the current academic year.
The deadline, which originally ended on the 11th of April, 2022, has now been pushed to 20th May, 2022, a day before the start of the End of Semester Examination.
The University Relations Officer, Dr. Daniel Norris Bekoe, disclosed this to GBC News during a visit to the Campus in Kumasi.
At the beginning of this week, news broke that about six thousand students of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, KNUST had their Programmes of study deferred to the next academic year owing to their inability to meet the timeline for the payment of a minimum of 70 % of their school fees for the current academic year.
The number of defaulting students represents 80% of the total 85,000 students population of the University with the amount owed by these students totalling GHC 55 million.
When the news broke, various interested parties made their views known with the Students Representatives Council, SRC of the University taking steps to help the defaulting students so as to ensure they continued with their courses.
The SRC made an initial contribution of GHC 50,000 to help those who needed a top-up to meet the minimum tuition payment threshold.
Information gathered by GBCNews during a visit to the KNUST campus was that the Minister for Education, Dr. Osei Yaw Adutwum, the Students Loan Trust Fund, a Deputy Director at the Council for Tertiary Education, the University’s Council, and management met as a result of the situation to chart a way out for the students in order not to jeopardize their future.
The University Relations Officer, Dr. Daniel Norris Bekoe told GBCNews that following this meeting Management decided to extend the grace period for the defaulting students to the 20th of May, 2022, a day before the start of the End of Semester Examination.
The URO warned however that, even though all the students were allowed to write their Mid-Semester Examinations, any of them who failed to comply with the new deadline will have himself or herself to blame when the next Examination takes off.
“Parents and guardians must now take keen interest in whether or not their Wards pay fees given them, so as not to witness a re-occurrence of the unpalatable situation.
In an interview with GBCNews on Friday April 22, 2022, the Deputy Public Relations Officer of the SRC, Master Elvis Boakye disclosed that upon further consultation with the Dean of Students, the Council has more than tripled the amount to GHC153 thousand so as to cover more of the affected students.
Master Boakye however expressed the SRC’s displeasure about Management’s generalization indicting all the six thousand defaulting students as miscreants who embezzled their school fees.
According to him, even though just a handful of them could have misapplied their fees, the vast majority of them are victims of harsh economic circumstances.
