2024-08-15 03:55:33
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Less than two (2) weeks before the formal start of the school year in foreign universities, particularly in Russia, Guinean scholarship students (Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctorate) in common agreement with the international federation of Guinean scholarship holders are planning to go on strike in the coming days if nothing is done for the payment of their maintenance grants by the Guinean State, through the National Service for External Scholarships (SNABE). In their claim, they made it known that they have been waiting almost a year for the payment of their maintenance grants, which are estimated at $100 per month for those doing the Bachelor’s degree and $120 for those doing the Master’s and Doctorate studies.
According to this press release, Guinean scholarship holders, in general, face an ordeal and/or torture caused by the delay in the payment of scholarship supplements. “This way of the cross seems to be perpetuated by those in charge at the highest level who, for the best, would have been the masters who soften our pains. Unfortunately, the disbursement procedure seems even longer than the Amazon River” deplore these students.
In the particular case of students in the Russian Federation, since last September (date of the start of the school year in Russia), no scholarship student from the 2023-2024 class has received a cent of what they are owed, he says: “These are students who have recently arrived in the country, who are in the integration phase since they are in the language faculty. For them, there is no way out, no hope of survival other than the scholarships that the State owes them. It has been almost 10 months since they received anything. It should be noted that it has become a custom to keep the four (4) months following the start of the school year unpaid for newly arrived classes. This was the case for the 2022-2023 class, which has not yet received what is owed to them. And worse, no communication, no plausible information has been given to justify this state of affairs)”.
These students continued: “Those of the other promotions, besides that of 2023-2024, only received the four (4) months following the start of the school year, that is to say September, October, November and December 2023. And, it must be believed that at each stage of the academic development, there is a set of expenses to be made. These are: the renewal of the visa (which is annual), the rental fees that must be paid monthly, the medical examinations that must be done regularly… not to mention survival which is more than essential for the acquisition of better results at the university…”
Further, these students deplore an imbalance between what is said and reality: “In recent days, we were told by officials at SNABE that the disbursement was made by the Public Treasury and that the service was working to top up the accounts. But, we found that the situation is quite the opposite of what was portrayed to us. We are not living; we are surviving because of them.”
Finally, these students are requesting the involvement of the country’s top authority for a favorable outcome. “We ask the President of the Republic to get involved in order to facilitate the payment of our scholarship supplements. We would like this sham that kills students, the courage, the talent in them and the complete concentration on studies to stop. This has become a habit and it must stop for the better. We, the federal office of the Association of Guinean Students and Doctoral Students in the Russian Federation, in common agreement with the international federation of Guinean scholarship holders, are ready to go on strike if nothing is done in a few days. And, it will be in the various embassies of Guinea abroad,” they announced.
Mamadou Yaya Barry