Students denounce authorities’ grants maladministration

A students’ association in Togo has condemned authorities’ ‘ill will’ and ‘lack of care’ which it says has resulted in failure to pay students their due grants and benefits.

In a statement published in Télégramme228, the organisation Synergie des Élèves et Étudiants du Togo (SEET) complained about irregularities in the government’s funding of students at the country’s two public universities.

SEET said it “observes with bitterness and despair the categorical refusal to make the payments claimed by students”.

In fact, for more than a month the director of the grants department and the minister of higher education and research had confirmed the payments had eventually arrived and the details sent to the public Treasury for withdrawal of the funds, said SEET.

The association pointed out the number of students hit by the injustice ran into “hundreds, indeed a thousand”. Worse still, some students had never received their due instalments from the time they enrolled at university until the end of their courses, with the authorities’ only argument being “for reasons of multiple claims”, even though the students respected the rules, Télégramme228 reported the association as saying.

There was still no favourable outcome for the students, “a situation that clearly demonstrates the will of the government to deprive students of their allowances and grants,” said SEET.

It said it “denounces the ill will and condemns in the strongest terms the lack of care shown by the Togolese authorities towards the students, and demands the payment of the funds to the students very soon”. – Compiled by Jane Marshall

This article is drawn from local media. University World News cannot vouch for the accuracy of the original reports.