President Joe Biden said on Wednesday the U.S. government will forgive $10,000 in student loans for millions of debt-saddled former college students, keeping a pledge he made in the 2020 campaign for the White House.

The move could boost support for his fellow Democrats in the November congressional elections, but some economists said it may fuel inflation and some Republicans in the U.S. Congress questioned whether the president had the legal authority to cancel the debt.

Debt forgiveness will free up hundreds of billions of dollars for new consumer spending that could be aimed at homebuying and other big-ticket expenses, according to economists who said this would add a new wrinkle to the country’s inflation fight.

The actions are “for families that need them the most – working and middle class people hit especially hard during the pandemic,” Biden said during remarks at the White House. He pledged no high-income households would benefit, addressing a central criticism of the plan.

“I will never apologise for helping working Americans and middle class, especially not to the same folks who voted for a $2 trillion tax cut that mainly benefited the wealthiest Americans and the biggest corporations,” Biden said, referring to a Republican tax cut passed under former President Donald Trump.

Borrower balances have been frozen since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, with no payments required on most federal student loans since March 2020. Many Democrats had pushed for Biden to forgive as much as $50,000 per borrower.

Republicans mostly opposed student loan forgiveness, calling it unfair because it will disproportionately help people earning higher incomes.

“President Biden’s student loan socialism is a slap in the face to every family who sacrificed to save for college, every graduate who paid their debt, and every American who chose a certain career path or volunteered to serve in our Armed Forces in order to avoid taking on debt,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday.

The administration has yet to determine the price tag for the package, which will depend on how many people apply for it, White House domestic policy adviser Susan Rice told reporters. Student loans obtained after June 30 this year are not eligible, she said.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters the administration has legal authority to forgive the debt under a law allowing such action during a national emergency such as a pandemic. Earlier, Republican U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik had called the plan “reckless and illegal.”

American university tuition fees are substantially higher than in most other rich countries, and U.S. consumers carry $1.75 trillion in student loan debt, most of it held by the federal government. Biden said other countries could bypass the United States economically if students are not offered economic relief.

Pandemic pause

The administration will extend a COVID-19 pandemic-linked pause on student loan repayment to year end, while forgiving $10,000 in student debt for single borrowers with annual income under $125,000 a year or married couples who earn less than $250,000, the White House said.

Some 8 million borrowers will be affected automatically, the Department of Education said; others need to apply for forgiveness.

The government is also forgiving up to $20,000 in debt for some 6 million students from low-income families who received federal Pell Grants, and proposing a new rule that protects some income from repayment plans and forgives some loan balances after 10 years of repayment, the Education Department said.

A New York Federal Reserve study shows that cutting $10,000 in federal debt for every student would amount to $321 billion and eliminate the entire balance for 11.8 million borrowers, or 31% of them.

Inflation impact

A senior Biden administration official told reporters the plan could benefit up to 43 million student borrowers, completely canceling the debt for some 20 million.

After Dec. 31, the government will resume requiring payment on remaining student loans that were paused during the pandemic. The official said this would offset any inflationary effects of the forgiveness. Payment resumptions could even have a dampening effect on prices, the official said.

Former U.S. Treasury secretary Larry Summers disagreed. He said on Twitter that debt relief “consumes resources that could be better used helping those who did not, for whatever reason, have the chance to attend college. It will also tend to be inflationary by raising tuitions.”

Similarly Jason Furman, a Harvard professor who headed the Council of Economic Advisers during the Obama administration, said debt-cancellation would nullify the deflationary powers of the Inflation Reduction Act. “Pouring roughly half trillion dollars of gasoline on the inflationary fire that is already burning is reckless,” he said.

Moody’s analytics chief economist Mark Zandi sided with the White House, saying the resumption of billions of dollars per month in student loan payments “will restrain growth and is disinflationary.”

Source: REUTERS

According to the Immigrations Office of Belgium, in the first six months of 2022, Cameroonian students filed a total of 646 applications, and Moroccan students filed a total of 621 applications for long-stay visas, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

Data further show that 436 Cameroonian students applied for a long-stay visa in Belgium to pursue their studies in a state higher education institute, whereas 208 of them applied for a visa to be able to attend Belgian private institutions.

As for Moroccan students, the Belgian Immigrations Office shows that 577 students from Morocco applied for a long-stay visa to continue their education in a state institute, and another 6 of them applied for a visa to pursue their education in private institutes.

Based on the number of applications filed for long-stay visas, Chinese students were ranked third. They filed a total of 241 applications. The top ten list also includes students from Turkey, India, the United States, and Iran.

As for overall data, it has been revealed that in the first half of 2022, Belgium received almost 2,100 long-term visa applications from students all over the world.

Apart from receiving and issuing a high number of long-term visas for students, the Belgian authorities also extended the long-stay ID card for around 90 per cent of applications of 2,348 students.

All students and citizens of third countries that have not reached a visa liberalisation with the EU or an agreement with the Schengen member countries need to apply for a visa in order to be permitted entry to Belgium.

Students applying for a Belgian long-stay visa must submit all the required documents such as a student visa application form, a valid passport, two passport photos, health insurance, proof of financial means, a supporting letter, proof of English proficiency, proof of non-criminal convictions, and a high school diploma.

Those applying for a student visa must prove that they have enough income to support themselves during their stay in Belgium.

The Belgium student visa costs around €200, including the application process as well as the administrative feed.

Once in Belgium, students have eight days to register at a local administration office and get a residence card. By holding such a card, students are permitted to stay in Belgium for the duration of their study course. Generally, a student visa is issued for one to two years.

Source: SchengenVisaInfo.com

Last week, the Cameroon Minister of Defense, Joseph Beti Assomo, announced that 929 military recruits had been dismissed from the military for having fake certificates. The minister added that no legal action would be taken against the criminals. The minister, however, added that the criminals had signed an undertaking never to engage in any form of crime, adding that the criminals would be closely monitored and that henceforth, the screening of recruits will be more rigorous. Cameroon Concord News sent out a team to the streets of Yaoundé to get the opinions of Cameroonians and this is what some of them had to say. For purposes of anonymity, we will only use the last names of those interviewed. 

Mr. Che (unemployed): I think it was a good thing the military did to rid itself of criminals who would have become an integral part of our defense forces. It is hard for a criminal to really become a good citizen. Because of their tricks, good citizens were left out. I think those who had good certificates but failed the exams should be brought in. However, the government should go after those who are manufacturers of fake certificates. 

Mr. Ndip (IDP):   What happened in the military is just a tip of the iceberg. Cameroonians have destroyed their country by engaging in criminal activities. How can we be sure that the military and Gendarmerie are not already full of people with fake certificates? The military has to conduct a real certificates audit for us to be sure that our security is in safe hands. We are now hearing that there are senior military officials with fake certificates. Can the military investigate this for us to be sure that we are really safe in this country?

Mr. Njoh (in Yaoundé to check on his documents): This does not come as a surprise given the rate of corruption in Cameroon. If almost a thousand fake certificates had been detected this time around, how many of such fake certificates holders are already in the police, army and gendarmerie? The government must conduct a total certificates audit of the civil service to make sure we have decent people in the system. Look at what has been happening in the country. Each time a criminal gang is dismantled, we realize that military men or police officers are part of the gang. This is testament to the fact that our uniformed officers are not men of honor.  We still have to conduct more checks to sanitize the system.

Ms. Ngando (civil servant):  I understand there is a lot of unemployment in the country, but those with fake certificates should not be considered as being unemployed. They do not have certificates and should not be part of the labor market. I have heard that there are lots of people in the civil service who are using the certificates of their brothers and sisters who are working abroad. Since their siblings will not be coming back to work in the country, they have now adopted the names and certificates of their siblings. This also needs to be checked out. In today’s Cameroon, we do not have to trust anybody. Our fellow citizens have become very fake. 

Ms. Ebenye (unemployed): Since I had my first degree from the University of Buea two years ago, I have been looking for employment and everything seems to be impossible. Many people have been telling me that I must have a godfather if not I will never succeed. If the 929 criminals made their way into the military, it means they had godfathers and that was why those fake certificates had to be certified for them to be genuine. While the criminals have been sent home, the government must ensure that their networks and godfathers should never be active again. The country’s security forces should seek those networks and destroy them so that those of us with genuine certificates can have a place under the sun. I hear the student residential areas in Buea and Yaounde are the headquarters for the fabrication of these certificates. The government should investigate these allegations. These unfortunate situations are ruining our country’s reputation.

Mr. Agbor (retiree): This is no news. This practice has been going on for a very long time. If the government wants to clean up the system, it must come up with a system that will enable it to determine if certificates submitted for employment in the country are genuine. Like someone said today during Cameroon Calling on CRTV Radio, the government should come up with a consolidated database for all schools authorized in the country where those certificates can be certified before employment is granted to anybody. We now have recruits who have been trained in the handling of weapons and have been sent home. Are we sure they will not go home to form gangs or even join the ranks of Amba fighters to continue stoking the war that is tearing that part of the country apart? This is not the first time we are hearing of fake certificates in the country. Many years ago, FEICOM hired many women, most of whom were the wives of ministers and directors and who did not have the right certificates. It is alleged that some of those certificates came for the University of Yaounde II (SOA). The government should investigate the authorities of that university. Even officials of the ministry of higher education should be investigated because it is alleged that they are aware of some of those fake certificates. 

More of the opinions will be published subsequently. 

By Brayan  Tambe   Ashu

The Department of Engineering and Technology of the University of Buea was yesterday visited by gunmen who disrupted the writing of exams in that department and kidnapped a lecturer who was invigilating the exam.

The gunmen, suspected to be amba boys, came with the intention of disrupting exams and they succeeded in doing that, a student at the Univetsity of Buea told the Cameroon Concord News correspondent in Buea.

“Amba boys came in while we were writing our exams. This is unfortunate. How are they going run their country when they are against education,” the student said.

“Amba boys have made life very hard for students in the two English-speaking regions of the country. In rural parts of the country, children are still denied access to education by these so-called fighters,” he added.

Meanwhile, the kidnapped lecturer has not been heard from and the University community is really concerned.

No group has taken responsibility for the reckless behavior but many observers are already concluding that the revolution has lost its way.

More will be yours as we get it.

By Stephen Mokake

Cameroonian youths are really going through tough times. This remains a fact as thousands have been caught in the toxic spiral of unemployment, frustration and bitterness.

Many have been to the university and many of them are unable to find jobs that can keep them busy and out of crime and out of psychological torture.

This situation is very disheartening, especially as the whole notion of education has been designed to enable young people become useful to themselves, their families and their country.

Many young people are slowly dying and many are very intellectual. Knowledge is being wasted in Cameroon.  Their education has not offered them the type of job many of them thought they could get.

Some people blame youth unemployment in Cameroon on government employment policy failure, lack of appropriate skills on the part of the graduates, shrinking global economic growth, poor business environment, etc.

Despite these challenges, the million dollar question remains. How can Cameroonian youths be made employable so that they can compete favorably at home and with their colleagues in other countries in the global job market.

While some factors responsible for youth unemployment are clearly within the government’s purview and can only be addressed by the government, others could be addressed by other social actors, the private sector and the graduates themselves.

One of such ways is to help the students get the skills that might enhance their chances in the job market.

Skills development is an idea whose time has come and both the graduates and government must embrace this idea.

The government should help graduates with certain degrees to complete certification programs which will help the graduates to be job-ready.

Graduates of economics, for example, should be made to undergo short-term post-graduate training which will enable them specialize in areas in which they want to work.

 A graduate diploma in risk management, project management, environmental economics and other areas of specialization will help some of our graduates to achieve their goals in life.

Those who have studied accounting and finance in our universities could be granted scholarships for them to carry out accounting and finance certification programs which are very costly.

With education also being provided online, these students could be made to study from the comfort of their homes, especially as Internet connection in Cameroon is improving.

Many of our graduates come from poor backgrounds and if left unaided, they might never be part of the labor market and this will only increase their frustration and anger with a country they consider to be theirs.

Many young Cameroonians go to university without the orientation they need to make good educational choices. Education is an investment and it could be stressful if these young Cameroonians leave school without the prospect of having a job.

Many of them are future lifelines for their aging and ailing parents, and without much needed support, they may not be of any help to their families, communities and the country.

Many young Cameroonians have read law, but a law degree alone will not be able to open doors for many of them. To qualify as a lawyer in Cameroon, especially in the English-speaking part of the country, Cameroonians are expected to be graduates of recognized law schools.

Unfortunately, Cameroon does not have a law school and this is really frustrating for many young aspiring Cameroonian lawyers. There is a school of magistracy in Yaounde, but admission into this school is complicated.

It is rumored that admission into this school is for the highest bidder. How can young people from poor backgrounds get admitted into this school? Is excellence something Cameroonians can still count on?

The government can really help those who want to become lawyers by setting up a law school within the University of Buea or Bamenda to make things easier for future lawyers.

Other countries are simplifying things for their citizens and it is time for the Cameroon government to take a look at the possibility of creating a law school in Cameroon.

Many young Cameroonians are brillant, but they seem to be excluded from efforts at making the country a better place.

Reducing youth unemployment will not only be an issue of presidential degrees, it must be a demonstration of long term commitment by the government to eradicate this problem that has robbed many young Cameroonians of their happiness.

Universities in Cameroon should start working with private sector experts to understand the needs of the labor market so that new training programs could be made available in those universities.

In many countries in the world, the private sector has a say in educational curricula and short courses sometimes get taught by industry experts who help to orientate future graduates.

A graduate of journalism will be pointed in the right direction by industry experts. These experts can help young graduates gain much-needed experience through paid internships or volunteering programs.

Lack of experience can hold a brillant graduate down for years. Skills development programs, apprenticeship programs and experience-based training may help many young people to gain a better understanding of the job market.

Government policies in this regard will go a long way in helping young Cameroonians find jobs both within and out of the country. If left unaided and if their unemployment periods are long, many of these brilliant young men might put their knowledge to other things and in many cases to the wrong things like scamming, stealing and other illegal practices.

The Cameroonian private sector has a stake in this issue. It must work with the government in this regard to get the right manpower which will result in greater productivity and output.

Helping the young Cameroonian find work should be a partnership between many stakeholders. It is time to establish such a partnership which will inspire hope in young people.

By Dr Joachim Arrey

Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, more than 5.5 million people have fled the country of which more than 50,000 have been welcomed by France. These refugees have been granted temporary status that entitles them to work and receive social and medical assistance.

However, foreign students who were living in Ukraine and who were also forced to flee have been exempted from this scheme – and they now find themselves in a complicated situation that risks jeopardising their university studies and, possibly, their professional careers.

When he fled the port city of Odesa a few days after the start of the war in Ukraine, Merdi couldn’t have imagined his journey would turn into an obstacle course with the goal being to stay in France. “We thought France would welcome us, but that is not the case. They tell us we don’t have a nationality – that we were in Ukraine only to study and now we have to go home,” said the 26-year-old Congolese student, who arrived in France on March 11.  

Merdi’s case is not an isolated one. According to the Union des étudiants exiles (Union of exiled students) and the France Fraternités union, there are around 1,000 foreign students who have fled Ukraine and are experiencing the same difficulties staying in France.

The crux of the problem is administrative and dates back to early March, when many European Union countries pledged to move quickly to help those fleeing the conflict in Ukraine. France decided to implement the EU’s “temporary protection directive”, aimed at aiding displaced persons. Valid for three months, it grants several protections to refugees, including the right to a place of residence as well as access to jobs, education, and social and medical assistance.

But the foreign students living in Ukraine were excluded from this emergency measure.

“France excluded foreign students from the temporary protection measures by giving them a one-month residence permit instead,” said Pierre Henry, president of the France Fraternités union. The rationale being that, “their countries are not at war, so they can go home”.

Sabar, an Algerian student who fled Lviv when the war started, also found himself in difficulty upon his arrival in France. “The prefecture gave me just a one-month residence permit. Now, they want me to return to Algeria. But I don’t want to – I spent a lot of money to go to Ukraine, study and get my diploma,” the 25-year-old said.

‘The Kafkaesque option’

After arriving in Paris on March 14, Sabar endured two days of hardship before finding a hotel that welcomed refugees. “I slept outside near a train station,” he said.

Now trapped in an administrative quagmire, he just wants to continue his studies in France. “I tried to enroll in several universities in Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Strasbourg and Bordeaux. But they didn’t reply.”

“They are going to tell me that if I want a six-month residence permit to be able to stay, I will have to be registered at a university or have a guarantee of employment. My problem is that I haven’t found anything in a month. But I don’t want to leave,” Sabar said.

The same goes for Merdi, who just wants to continue his studies abroad. “I am afraid that I will be told to go back to Congo. If I can, I would like to continue my studies at a university here. That’s the only thing I want.”

The plight of African students who have fled Ukraine has spurred many in France to action. Among them is a group of university presidents and lecturers who are alarmed by their circumstances.   

In a contribution published in “Le Monde” newspaper in April, the academics called for France to “continue educating the students that Ukraine chose to welcome”. Leftist student political organisations, such as Le Poing Levé (Raised Fist), are trying to increase the pressure on university presidents to enroll these students who find themselves caught in the middle of world affairs.

“It is an absurd situation,” Henry said. “We have chosen the Kafkaesque option rather than offering protection for all.”

He said these students, who have no intention of returning home, will soon find themselves in very precarious circumstances on French territory.

“It is a real waste, because these are French-speaking students. Since half of their education is already complete and considering their professional prospects have been totally destroyed by the war, the logical thing would be to allow them to register in France and continue their studies,” he added.

Some universities are, however, beginning to change their position and accept foreign students. “Twenty or so are in the pre-registration phase and taking applications,” Mathieu Schneider, president of the Migrants in Higher Education network of French institutions, told “Les Echos Start” media on April 19.

‘Everyone is a victim of this war’

The administrative status of students caught up in this situation remains up in the air. France’s prefectures, which handle immigration applications, favour taking a case-by-case approach, with decisions seeming to vary from one regional administration to another.

Several people, including a Congolese student living in Aveyron, said they had received provisional residence permits good for several months instead of for just one (which remains the official rule).

So which requirements currently prevail? Contacted by FRANCE 24, the French ministry of the interior detailed the arrangements available to people eligible for temporary protection, notably through Campus France, which allows eligible people to apply to enroll in French higher education.

Regarding the situation being faced by foreign students in France, the ministry said the treatment of third-country nationals is part of the EU Council’s temporary protection directive, noting: “If a third-country national is not eligible for temporary protection, he or she should return to his or her country of origin.”

However, other countries, including Portugal and Spain, have chosen to adapt the EU framework and welcome all those fleeing Ukraine.

The Council of Europe has been alarmed by the varied treatments displaced people are getting in EU member states. A report published at the beginning of April referred to a “double standard” in the reception of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants depending on their country of origin.

Foreign students thus either have to relocate to those countries that have decided to universally welcome those fleeing Ukraine or return to their countries of origin. The other option is to apply for asylum or a residence permit, provided they meet the required conditions, and hope for the best.

Sabar and Merdi have an appointment at the prefecture in the next few days to find out what their future holds. The young Algerian says continuing his studies and staying in France is “the best thing that can happen”.

Merdi still does not understand why he is being treated differently from another refugee: “No one wanted to leave Ukraine to come to France. It’s not our fault. It’s the war that caused all of these problems. Everyone is a victim of this war.”

“It’s the Ukrainians’ country, but we also lived there,” he said. “We paid for university. We have the right to be treated like them. There should be no difference.”

Source: France 24

The Global Think Tank for Africa, a not-for-profit organization, has reached out to internally displaced children in the town of Mamfe where there are thousands of IDPs who fled the fighting triggered by protest by teachers and lawyers in 2016. 

The event took place on March 22, 2022, in Mamfe and it brought together kids from many schools in the town. The Global Think Tank has made the donation of school supplies to pupils in Mamfe a continuous event and yesterday’s event is the third organized by the not-for-profit organization.  

Many of the kids from the rural areas lack basic school supplies and The Global Think Tank for Africa has been donating school materials to primary schools in Mamfe town and this has been made possible by donations and resources from people of good will. 

Speaking on the occasion, the Executive Director of the Global Think Tank for Africa, Dr. Joachim Arrey, used the occasion to urge other organizations and individuals to help the children who have been displaced by war. He thanked donors like Mr. Donald Besong of the United Kingdom, who reached out to the Global Think Tank for Africa so that the not-for-profit organization could deliver on its mandate.

“We will continue to bring much-needed assistance to those children who have been sent away from their homes by a war they know nothing about. I am urging other people to come to the help of these children. They deserve a fair chance at life. They know nothing about this war and without education, their future will be compromised. Education is a key that can open many doors and granting these children an opportunity to acquire education is like preparing them for a bright future,” Dr. Joachim Arrey said.   

Also speaking during the occasion, the Inspector of Basic education for Mamfe Central, Mr. Harman Taku Arreyngang, expressed his appreciation for the gesture, urging other donors to help children affected by war to have access to education.

“I am calling on the elites of the Manyu Division to come to the help of these children who desperately need their support. Education is important in a child’s life and anybody who reaches out to a child, especially when he or she is in need, is giving that child a fighting chance at life,” he said. 

The Global Think Tank for Africa has promised more assistance in the coming months and its commitment to the education of children can be seen through its donations.  

By Philip Nkongho in Mamfe town