Dear Editor,
Please allow me to highlight a serious flaw in our state system for funding of tertiary education; the current system requires students to ‘qualify’ for a loan by fulfilling the following requirements:
Filling a Ministry of Finance Information form (new or continuing student), providing a guarantor for the loan by having them sign an affidavit. The student information form is straight-forward: name of applicant, registration number, course and faculty and cost; this is by no means an unreasonable step in the process as this is the vital information required by the state agency.
What comes next however is the requirement to secure a guarantor for their loan, the guarantor also has a form to fill: 1) Name, Nationality, Age, Date of birth, Address, Telephone number; 2) Relationship to borrower; 3) Occupation, Place of employment, address and telephone of employer; 4) Name of Employer; 5) Period of employment; 6) Net Annual Income; 7) Taxpayer Identification Number; 8) National Identification Number; 9) Affidavit to be sworn before a Commissioner of Oaths; 10) Guarantor’s Credit Score; 11) Guarantor’s Tax Compliance Certificate.
The issue I would like to highlight is the inherent unfairness of the system to our young people who are seeking to further their education: they are being placed in a situation of finding someone who would not only be willing to guarantee a loan, but one who is willing to undergo much stress to provide numerous pieces of information to comply with the ‘requirements’.
For out of town students the task is multiple times harder, with families working in the informal sectors, some parents unemployed and no one willing to take that responsibility of guaranteeing a loan, the struggle often leads to despair as the less well-off you are financially the harder the task of finding a guarantor becomes.
I would ask the present administration to change the system created by the previous government and to make the student form the only requirement for a citizen student loan and include the ever rising faculty fees in the loan amount, remove the unnecessary requirement of a guarantor as it is onerous and creates an unfair burden to those in the direst financial need.
Let a student loan become a right easily enjoyed by all citizens, let us truly put the needs of the youth first on our list of national priorities.
With all the talk about Sovereign Wealth Fund Investments it would be wise to heed the words of Benjamin Franklin “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.
Sincerely,
Robin Singh
President
Guyana Baseball
League
Inc
