Some of the students on government scholarship in Egypt have returned home due to lack of financial support abroad.

Their leader in Cairo says only those whose parents are in government have managed to get transport fees.

There are more than 150 students on government scholarship in Egypt. Each receives about $100 US dollars per month in allowance.

The students say they are unable to meet the cost of rent and feeding and want the government to pay them immediately.

They say this money has not been paid for almost a year, forcing some students who can afford the cost of transport to return home.

The representative of students in Egypt, Kot Maker, told Eye Radio that the rest of his colleagues are still are the embassy, where they have been camping for almost a month now.

Mr Kot says they will continue staying at the embassy until they are paid.

“Those who have gone to South Sudan are those who have parents in Juba. They are the ones who facilitated their transport from Cairo to Juba,” Kot said.

“But for us who do not have relatives in the government, we are just in the Embassy. We have nowhere to go. We don’t know any place to go.”

The presence of the students at the embassy has paralyzed work there.

The spokesperson of the ministry of foreign affairs told Eye Radio that the ministry of education is trying to resolve the issue.

Amb Mawien Makol says the money will be sent to all the students. He denied that only students whose parents are in government have managed to return:

“You know this issue is being addressed. The Ambassador came here to Juba and met with the minister of Education, Science and Technology. He has agreed that the money will be sent for them to all of them.”

“There are no parents that are involved. It is the ministry of education and the students,” he added.

At the beginning of the students strike last month, officials gave contradicting accounts for the pay delay.

The Ministry of Education said the money was paid to the students, referring to a report from their attaché.

But officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs maintained that the money was yet to be paid.