Liberian Students on Bilateral scholarship Stranded in China

Bilateral scholarship students from Liberia studying in the People's Republic of China are said to be stranded in that country after completion of studies as the Government of Liberia is yet to provide plane tickets for their return to Liberia.

This paper has gathered that the Liberian students were now begging daily in the streets to survive as they are reportedly being thrown out of their respective university dormitories and hostels, risking deportation.

In a dispatch from China, the students said this situation had persisted for a long time since they started going to that country for study.

But they said this year's scenario is the worst case as about 22 of them, who have completed their studies from various Chinese universities in diverse disciplines, including Engineering, Agriculture, Economics and Medicines, among others, are currently stranded after the Chinese Scholarship Counsel (CSC) terminated supports to them.

The Secretary-General of the Liberian Student Union in China, Edwin N. Sumowar said, under the bilateral agreement between the two countries, the Government of Liberia agreed for her citizens/students to go for study in China and upon graduation, Government would have been responsible to provide flight tickets for their return home to contribute to the growth and development of their country.

Edwin N. Sumowar said the Chinese have fulfilled their part of the deal by training them and taking care of them during the period of their studies, but the Government of Liberia is yet to provide flight tickets to enable them to return home.

He said some of their colleagues have resorted to personally paying for their stay at private motels in China, while others were heading to the Liberian Embassy in Beijing to go on hunger strike as a way of drawing attention of the authorities back home.

The leadership of the Liberian students studying in China said it had on numerous occasions brought this to the attention of the Inter-Ministerial Council responsible for student's issues via emails and telephone calls, but they were often told the problem is with the Ministry of Finance in Monrovia.

"The worst and embarrassing part of this is the fact that these students' Resident Permits are going to be expired and definitely, the Chinese immigration will begin to arresting them to pay 500RMB or $80 USD for every day they stay in this country, and there is no condition on that. Besides, they would possibly face deportation as well", the leadership stressed in the dispatch.

It further noted that President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf may not be aware of the situation and stressed the need for their plight to be brought to her attention urgently, saying "These students did not come here at their own will and we strongly believe they should not be treated as such. "

"They are Liberians, who have come to acquire knowledge for the betterment of their country. We are of the convictions that the President does not know about this embarrassing situation that is at hand."

When the Foreign Ministry in Monrovia was contacted, authorities there instead referred this paper to the Civil Service Agency here on grounds that the affected students were recruited from various government ministries and agencies through the CSA for the scholarships.

CSA authorities could neither confirm nor deny the situation as authorities there were said to be locked in an urgent meeting despite two separate attempts to get an official response from the agency.

On Monday July 15, 2013 our reporter visited the office of the Civil Service Agency three times for response to the story but staffs of the Director General Office said the CSA boss was in a long meeting, and was told to come back the next morning at 10am, which was Tuesday, July 16.

On Tuesday, this Reporter stayed in the waiting room of the CSA more than an hour, awaiting the CSA boss to come out of another meeting to respond to the story, but left without any result.

Again on Wednesday, July 18, 2013 after waiting another 30 minutes to see the CSA Director General, the director finally came out of his office and when this paper engaged him about the students studying in China on government scholarship, he in return asked the reporter" - "Are you the one, who wants to get information on students studying in China, right? I am actually going to the Finance Ministry for another meeting, but you can come in an hour time so we can talk."

The Reporter returned to the CSA office after an hour, but couldn't have access to the Director General up to press time