The Youth Wing of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has taken note of reports by various media houses over the deferment of some 6,000 students of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology (KNUST) due to their inability to pay their school fees. It is unfortunate that the situation has gotten to such levels.

Without doubt, this is a worrying development which has serious implications for the education of the affected students. By this release, we are appealing to all stakeholders to work together to ensure this is resolved. While we acknowledge the various reasons cited for this development, we also call on the management of the school to temper justice with mercy.

We also appeal to management to consider other amenable options in place of deferment. We encourage the school authorities to consider a special arrangement where students caught up in this situation will be offered lenient ways of settling their debt. This is to ensure their education is not jeopardized by their actions or inactions.

Under these harsh economic conditions visited upon us by this insensitive and clueless government led by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo and Dr Mahamadu Bawumia, it is only fair that we ask management of the school to be highly considerate of the plight of these students.

Surprisingly, the Student Loan Trust Fund, the agency mandated to offer soft loans for students for such situations has not offered any such relief to any student for the past 3 years. This development coupled with the rising cost of living has made the plight of these students even more precarious.

The Ministry of Education must disappoint us this time around; for once, they must stand up for the Ghanaian student. It is no longer tenable that the Ministry designated to ensure the welfare of students will sit unconcerned and treat this issue like business as usual.

Education is a right, not a privilege. The onus is on government to ensure this mantra remains true in both word and spirit. No student should be denied access to education with ridiculous claims.

The National Democratic Congress, known to be sensitive to the plights of Ghanaian students has taken a keen interest in this issue. On our part, we have reached out to the Students' Representative Council (SRC) to assist their efforts of salvaging the situation. We will not renege on our efforts in engaging all stakeholders to ensure an amicable solution to this development. We sincerely hope this issue will be resolved earnestly by all stakeholders at the earliest.

George Opare Addo

National Youth Organizer,

National Democratic Congress.