The Students Loan Trust Fund has clarified that the new laptop initiative announced last Tuesday is not a separate loan being offered to its borrowers.

The Fund earlier announced that it was introducing an initiative after consultation with the NUGS and other stakeholders which would allow its borrowers to use part of their loans to acquire laptops to aid in online learning.

According to the SLTF they would supply the laptops to interested students with a portion of their loan amount, at the request of the student.

The laptop would be considered a part of the loan applied for by the student and the same repayment conditions would apply.

Currently, beneficiaries of the Fund begin repaying their student loans two years after completion of their studies.

According to the Head of Public Relations at the SLTF George Ferguson Laing, existing borrowers and new loan applicants are eligible to benefit from the scheme.

“Recent studies globally, have shown that students from disadvantaged backgrounds are most likely not to participate in online learning because of the prohibitive costs of laptops and data.

"As an institution established to promote access to tertiary education for all Ghanaians, this scheme has been introduced to allow students that cannot afford the necessary tools, the opportunity to fully participate in distance learning programmes” he said.

He said that students have the opportunity to request for a laptop by filling a simple form on the SLTF’s website, whiles new borrowers can make the request at the time of applying for the loan.

As part of measures to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, the government has temporarily shut down educational institutions including universities, leading to the adoption of distance learning programmes by tertiary institutions to limit the disruption.