ADEK shuts out students who receive study financing

Students from the Anton de Kom (Adek) State University on Thursday were shocked by a letter from the university board, informing them that students who receive study financing via the Fonds Studiefinanciering Suriname will not be enrolled for the school year 2020-2021. “We were suddenly confronted with this and when we asked questions regarding this matter the university’s Student Affairs Department told us that the decision was made because there is no more money in the fund which means that the university has no guarantees that it will actually receive the enrollment fees. A couple of hundred students who receive study financing from this particular fund risk being cutting off from classes,” one of the students told Times of Suriname.

Some of the students contacted the Nationale Ontwikkelingsbank (NOB) which manages the fund. But they claimed that the bank also did not have any clear answers for them and that the bank referred them to the Ministry of Education and Culture. When Times of Suriname contacted the NOB it became clear that the people who work there have no permission to share information regarding this matter. A representative of the fund also referred Times of Suriname to the minister of Education. Times of Suriname has not received any response from Education Minister Marie Levens or the permanent parliamentary committee on Education. MP Reshma Mangre who is the chairperson of the committee was not aware of the issue but assured that she would get to the bottom of it. “We have not been informed of this but we will gather information because this is unacceptable,” said Mangre.