President John Dramani Mahama has tasked the Ministries of Education and Finance to pay the outstanding bursaries due to Ghanaian students on scholarship abroad.
He again directed the two ministries to review the selection criteria of beneficiaries of government scholarship to ensure transparency and clarity in the selection.
Besides, President Mahama has decided that henceforth students will be offered scholarship in only courses that are not offered in Ghanaian institutions.
A Deputy Minister of Information and Media Relations, Mr Felix Ofosu Kwakye, told journalists at the Flagstaff House in Accra Friday that the President’s directive followed Cabinet’s deliberations on the issue of Ghanaian students on scholarship abroad.
Recently, some Ghanaian students on scholarship abroad complained that they had not received their tuition and boarding fees from the government.
The ministries of Education and Finance are said to be working on the actual arrears that the Ghanaian students owe to the educational institutions abroad.
Mr Ofosu Kwakye said the President wanted the two ministries “to take urgent steps to ensure that all payments due to the students on scholarship abroad are paid.”
On the restriction of courses for scholarship, he said the number of private tertiary institutions had increased, and indicated that the private universities were offering more courses.
The deputy minister said the government wanted to train human resources abroad “in areas that we do not have our institutions running the courses.
“The government wants to inject efficiency in the way scholarships are offered. Courses that are offered here will no longer receive funding,” he said.
