Cameroonian scholarship students stranded in China

Over one hundred and fifty Cameroonian students studying on a Cameroon/China Scholarship Award in different universities in the People’s Republic of China say for four years they have not received stipends from the Cameroon government as stipulated on the terms of the scholarship scheme.

One of the students speaking to Mimi Mefo Info on the basis of anonymity says: “I went to the embassy in August 2019 and the ambassador told me there was no money. But what is disturbing is that when I wrote to the Ministry of Higher Education back in Cameroon, they told me that our money or allowances have been sent to the embassy in China.This is frustrating because it doesn’t make sense for the embassy and the ministry to say different things on the same issue concerning the students on scholarship”.

According to the students, the Cameroon/China Scholarship Award scheme stipulates that the government of Cameroon has to pay FCFA 80.000 every month to each student, money meant for the upkeep of the students while in school.

According to another student, students under the scholarship that graduated this year 2020 are homeless today.He says “Those who graduated have been sent out of their hostels by the university since they are no longer students of the school and has equally stopped paying their allowances. They don’t have visa to work in China. Yet, the government of Cameroon has not sent their air tickets to travel back to the country.We are pleading that the government should send their money to return to Cameroon”.
Going by documents sent to Mimi Mefo Info, the Cameroon Students Association in China has written to the Ministry of Higher Education in Cameroon several times asking for their financial allowances to no avail.
They argue that the government of China has been paying her own part of the financial package of FCFA 200.000f to each student studying at the master’s level and FCFA 250.000 to those at the doctorate level. The students state that to graduate, one of the conditions is to get an article published in an international journal upon the payment of a sum of money.This has not been a reality for them because the government of Cameroon has not paid the money.
Cameroon ambassador to China for now has not issued an official statement on the issue. Attempts to each the embassy for comments were futile.

Mimi Mefo Info.