More benefit from Sharabutu Educational Trust Fund

A toral of 1,151 students have benefited from the Sheikh Nuhu Osman Sharabutu Educational Trust Fund (SONSET), since it partnered with the Students Loan Trust Fund (SLTF), four years ago.

SONSET is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) established by the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Dr Nuhu Osman Sharabutu to support the educational needs of Muslims in the country.

According to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SLTF, Ms Sheila Naah Boamah, her outfit had a partnership agreement with SONSET from the beginning of the 2011/2012 academic year to allow SONSET to guarantee loans for students.

She said some students could not access loans because they could not get guarantors to endorse their forms so “that made it difficult for those students to complete their tertiary education.”
“That was the reason why we expanded the guarantors to include religious institutions and metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies, as well as corporate bodies, to ease the burden on prospective loan applicants.”

Partnership
Ms Boamah was speaking at the launch in Accra of a partnership agreement between SLTF and Zakat and Sadaqa Trust Fund (ZSTF), a Muslim NGO. The agreement will allow ZSTF to guarantee loans for Muslim students nationwide.
The ZSTF was launched in September 2010 by the Muslim caucus of Parliament in collaboration with the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Dr Nuhu Sharabutu and Imams of various Islamic sects in Ghana.
The CEO of ZSTF, Sheikh Armiyawo Shaibu, said the fund would advocate and sensitise members nationwide to the existence of the initiative to enable them to access tertiary education.
Additionally, he said, “We will investigate thoroughly before endorsing any application forms, to ensure they repay without any challenge to SLTF.”
He also said to be eligible to contribute to the fund, contributors should earn a minimum monthly salary of GH¢1,1 78 per month.

Commendation
A Deputy Minister of Education, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, commended the Islamic group for its initiative and asked other religious leaders to emulate the gesture to enable them to support Ghana’s education.
Mr Ablakwa also urged Muslim leaders to prioritise girl-child education in order to address the challenges that girls faced in their bid to access education in their communities.