The plight of 215 students, including undergraduates, masters students, and even PhD candidates, has been gaining quite a bit of traction on the social media platform X. These young scholars travelled to Hungary from the West African nation of Ghana, funded by the scholarship programme of their home country—or, at least, they were supposed to be funded by it.
However,
the Ghanaian government has failed to pay the students their due stipends for six months.
The young men and women are now left in dire straits, as their families have to take on unforeseen financial burdens just to keep them fed and sheltered in a far-away country.
The Ghana Student Association issued a public statement that has been shared on the social media platform X by a whole slew of people, garnering thousands of likes and comments. These posts usually include the phrase ‘Ghanaian Students in Hungary are Hungry’.
The public statement clearly states that
‘the Hungarian government has commendably fulfilled all its obligations stipulated in the scholarship agreement’.
So, the fault in the debacle solely lies on the Ghanaian part of the bilateral agreement, according to the Student Association.
The press release also writes:
‘The Ghanaian students in Hungary are currently facing a harrowing situation that requires urgent attention from the Government of Ghana, the Media, and the Public. Despite a bilateral scholarship agreement between the Ghanaian and Hungarian governments, students have been left in dire straits.
For the past six months, the Ghanaian government has failed to fulfill its crucial responsibility of providing monthly stipends to about 215 students…This negligence has had profound consequences on [the] students’ academic performance and mental well-being…Repeated appeals, manifested through letters, have been made to all stakeholders in Ghana, but sadly, no response has been received, plunging these promising young individuals into desperation and disillusionment.’
The unfortunate students have reached out to their home nations’ Ministry of Finance and Scholarship Secretariat as well, alas, to no avail.
Hungarian Relations with African Nations
This is not the first time we have reported on close cooperation between Hungary and an African nation. In October 2023, we wrote about the Hungarian Helps programme’s mission in Chad.
Ministry of Defence Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky of Hungary talked about the initiative, pointing out that the state of affairs in Central Africa, particularly Chad, has significant implications for the stability and future of Europe, mostly due to its potential to trigger additional migrant waves coming from the Black Continent. However, also stated that military intervention by the Hungarian Defence Forces in the matter would only happen at the request of the Chadian president.
As it often is, the political situation in Africa has been turbulent lately, with a civil war ongoing in Sudan since April 2023 and a military coup being successfully executed against the democratically elected President of Niger in July 2023.
Read more on Africa–Hungary:
