The President of the Students Representative Council (SRC) of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has said engagements are underway with management to reconsider the deferment of students over the non-payment of fees.
According to Micahel Abuah, the management is only enforcing existing regulations regarding fee payment which was instituted two to three years ago but has unfortunately been strict this year.
However, Mr Abuah has assured they [SRC] are determined to ensure the students get to write their end of first semester exams.
He stated most of the students have genuine concerns including scholarship beneficiaries and have communicated to the SRC and are willing to seek redress for them.
“Some students have paid the 70% threshold but still received the message so that error is being rectified and we will make sure the deferment is reverted. It could be that a few of them will pay even after the deferment.
“The SRC will also ensure that we help the needy students who cannot genuinely pay their fees clear their arrears. We have at the moment set aside GHS50,000 to help the course and we are looking at about 2,500 students by Friday who can benefit from this soft loan,” he said in an interview on Accra-based Neat FM.
About 6,000 KNUST students have been forced by the university to defer their courses.
This was after management issued a release notifying that students who owe more than 70 per cent of school fees by April 7 would be deferred automatically.
But the warning did not take effect at the time and according to sources, students were allowed to take part in the mid-semester exams, which started on April 11.
The students who still had arrears to cover were, after the first week of April, made to defer their courses.
Play the audio above: