GRASAG Demands Thesis And Bursary Grants

The Graduate Students Association of Ghana (GRASAG) has called for the release of their bursary and thesis grants to enable them to carry out their research work.

According to the association, the continuous delay in the payment of the grants to over 10,000 students in the six public universities to enable them to carry out their research work had defeated the purpose they were meant to serve.

Consequently, the leadership of the association had given the government a two-day ultimatum to pay the grants, or they will embark on a protest march on Monday, May 7 to express their frustrations.

The President of the association, Dr Samuel Bert Boadi-Kusi, told newsmen in Accra on Wednesday that the government had not given any tangible reason for the delay in the release of the money even though they claimed approval had been given for the payment of the grants.

According to him, post graduate education in Ghana had become expensive, thereby defeating the equal access to education for all policy.

“The delay in releasing the bursaries does not only go to defeat the essence of the grants, but also go to put unnecessary pressure on students who have begun research work on credit basis in anticipation that these moneys were going to come early,” he said.

He wondered why the payment of the grants which were fixed as low as GH¢130 for Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Master of Arts (MA) students as well as GH¢258 and GH¢450 for Master of Philosophy and PHD students, far lower than the extension fee of GH¢1,200 payable by students, continues to delay.

Dr Boadi-Kusi said the leadership of GRASAG had dialogued with the various institutions to no avail.

In some cases, he said their concerns were being discounted because of the perception that graduate students would rather engage in dialogue than demonstrate, adding that “We believe government officials are taking us for a ride”.

He said that the delay had in most cases led to the funds being paid back into government chest because they were released when students were unavailable to receive them.

For instance, he said, the University of Cape Coast returned GH¢32,000 of student bursaries to government chest because students had long completed and left the school before the grants were released.