Some final year students pursuing their education in Morocco under a Government of Ghana funded scholarship are taking shelter in churches due to non-payment of rent.

According to the aggrieved students, failure of the government to pay their stipends which have been in arrears for the past eight months, has resulted in this.

They also stated that the situation has left them in extreme poverty.

Isaac Ofori Agyekum, an affected student disclosed that they now have to survive by borrowing money and food from friends and other nationals.

“For the past eight months we have not received anything from the government. We received a communique from the embassy saying that all final year students are supposed to go home and their stipends will be paid in Ghana [but] some of us have to pay for apartments and other utilities so we have to go borrowing,” he shared.

Vice President of the Ghanaian Student Association in Morocco, Nana Kwabena Dankwa also lamented over the situation.

He was particularly concerned about the fact that most of the students are financially constrained as a result of the development and, therefore, would have to starve.

“Feeding is one of the biggest challenges that students are facing here,” he said, adding that some of the students are highly indebted due

to the situation.

“Students borrow from shops, some of them eat on credit, others also borrow from other nationalities to buy foodstuff and now they have borrowed till people no longer want to offer them help,” he added.

Also, “students are sleeping in church auditoriums here in Morocco.”

Amuzu Delali, also an affected student, confirmed this. “The major problem is our feeding. Students depend on other nationals for food.

These days when we get to the apartments of friends, they begin to close their doors because they think we are coming to beg for food,” he said.

They are, therefore, appealing to the government to come to their aid in order to alleviate their economic woes.

“We are pleading with the government that they should come to their aid,” Amuzu stated.

Source: The Independent Ghana