UG loan should be managed by Private Sector-PSC Chairman

Ramesh persaudGeorgetown: With millions of dollars owed by some graduates of the University of Guyana, Private Sector Commission Chairman Ramesh Persaud said the Student Loan Agency should be managed by the Private Sector.

The University of Guyana’s student loan programme annually assists thousands of Guyanese who are seeking a tertiary education and is managed by Government through the Finance Ministry.

Persaud said the Student Loan Agency should be managed by the local commercial banks. According to him, much of the current problems would be addressed if this is the case.

Persaud said recent revelations have proven that the current monitoring system is inadequate. “I believe that if that is given to the commercial banks, and with better systems in place, we would have a greater control and a greater collectability of some of those loans.”

Based on information emanating from the Finance Ministry, he said a high percentage of the graduates who have benefited from the service have breached their contracts. It was further explained that they are yet to repay the Government.

Stringent measures

Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh is giving UG loan defaulters a little more time to voluntarily make their repayments, before stringent measures are taken to recover the outstanding funds.

While he did not disclose to this publication what specific measures will be taken against loan defaulters, Dr Singh reiterated that students who had accessed Government’s financing to acquire their tertiary education should do the right thing and repay what is owned to the Government.

Dr Singh had disclosed that the repayment by students who had graduated from the country’s premier tertiary institution and who are now comfortably working in various sectors, has been moving at a slow pace. According to him, just handfuls have made repayments. He said the default by past students is something that Government had recognised, pointing out that corrective action would have to be taken to achieve higher levels of compliance with a higher level of repayment.

The Finance Ministry is solely responsible for the disbursement of funds to the Student Loan Agency of the University of Guyana. However, things took a drastic change when earlier this year, the $450 million allocated to the University was cut from the National Budget by members of the Opposition.

That move had seen a dark cloud looming over the institution, as its Vice Chancellor, Professor Jacob Opadeyi indicated to this publication that the University cannot survive without assistance from the Government.