Ghanaian Scholarship Students In Russia Forced to Become Cleaners!

Ghanaian scholarship students
in Russia have been forced into
menial jobs such as hostels and
snow cleaning in their struggle
to survive
Reports from 3News reveal that
Ghanaian students on
government scholarship in
Russia have not been receiving
their bursaries. This has
resulted to their being turned
out of hostels due to failure to
pay their accommodation fees.
Each of the students is entitled
to a quarterly allowance of 900
dollars for their upkeep. They
are also entitled to a yearly
allowance of 560 dollars each
for books, health insurance and
accommodation and other
expenditure.But the students say their grant
for the last quarter of 2016
[October, November,
December] which was
supposed to have been paid at
the start of the academic year,
have not yet been released by
the government. According to
them, this has left so many of
them stranded as they are
unable to meet up with the
payment of their
accommodation fees; a
situation that has made the
school to send them packing
from their hostels. It was also
reported that some of the
students risk deportation if they
do not find money to renew
their visas.
As a result of this, some of the
affected students have been
forced to do menial jobs to earn
little money to sustain
themselves. While some
have taken to cleaning hostels
in exchange of accommodation,
others engage in snow
cleaning.There are also those perching
with non – scholarship students
and Ghanaian residents in
Russia, making access to their
campus a challenge due to cost
of transportation. 3News
gathered from Abdul Kadir, one
of the Ghanaian scholarship
students in Russia, that over
200 students are at risk of
catching cold as they trek daily
under unfavourable weather
conditions to campus.
Abdul also revealed that 39
fresh scholarship students who
arrived in Russia from Ghana
on November 14 with the hope
of receiving stipends for their
hostels, medical insurance,
winter clothing, academic
documentation have also been
left stranded.
He went further to explain that it
took a threat of demonstration
to receive their 4th quarter
stipends in February 2016 – the
one they suppose to have
received in October 2015. He
therefore indicated that there is
no need to wait till February
2017, but to start now to push
the government to pay
the grants as early as possible.
The students are afraid that
after elections, structural
changes in either the new or the
existing government will delay
the allowances even
further. They said attempts by
fresh students to get financial
assistance from home have
been unfruitful as monies
borrowed by parents for their
flight are yet to be paid.
Meanwhile, several attempts to
speak to registrar of the
scholarship secretariat Fuseini
Lansah has proved futile.
According to NUGS Russia, they
petitioned Vice President Paa
Kwesi Amissah Arthur to fast
track the release of students’
bursaries when he attended the
St. Petersburg International
Forum in June but are yet to
receive a favourable response.
It is good that the Ghanaian
scholarship students in Russia
are acquainted with happenings
in the country as regards
government’s payment of
students’ allowances . This will
make them to be aware that
they are not alone in the
unpleasant situation.