The Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) together with Ghana Commercial Bank are enrolling Senior High School (SHS) students onto the e-zwich. The Exercise which began late November of 2010 has so far registered over 15,000 students and staff of the schools.
The move is part of the plan to get as many people to use the biometric card. Speaking in an interview the General Manager in charge of Project and Business Development at GhIPSS Archie Hesse said the enrolment held between November and December last year covered 25 schools in Central, Brong Ahafo and Upper West regions.
He explained that a second phase of the programme has began and would continue till the month of April. Three different teams are engaged in the second phase of the programme to ensure that as many students as possible are registered and issued with the e-zwich card. The registration teams will cover 66 schools in the Volta, Ashanti, Eastern, Central, Northern and Upper East regions before they go on vacation.
Mr. Hesse added that it is the target of GhIPSS to enroll at least 50,000 students and staff of SHS before the year ends. Most of the registration is being done by Ghana Commercial bank, which is significantly widening its deposit base through the exercise. Other banks such as Merchant and Ut would join in the exercise from February.
GhIPSS has enjoyed high patronage of its e-zwich cards and ATMs on the campuses of tertiary institutions, as these areas have recorded huge transaction volumes. This is partly because the payment of student loans through the e-zwich has entered its third year, implying that more and more students now receive their loans on the biometric card. The e-zwich has also been successful on the campuses because the younger generation is more technology friendly.
The success on the tertiary campuses, according to Mr. Hesse has motivated the exercise going on in the SHS. He is hopeful that these younger ones would acquire the habit of using cards as a form of payment and also for other financial transactions. He said two Point of Sales (POS) devices have been placed at each SHS where the enrolment has taken place. One of the POSes would be used for the payment of school fees while the other for any transactions such as receiving remittances.
Mr. Hesse said parents have began remitting their wards through the e-zwich system and urged those who continue to remit through friends or travel to schools to resort to the e-zwich which is a lot more convenient. He added that each e-zwich card has a savings wallet that attracts higher interest explaining that parents can use it to inculcate the habit of saving in their wards at this early age.
Mr. Hesse also encouraged the parent to also get their own e-zwich card. He explained that if they have their cards, they can go to any e-zwich ATM and transfer money from their cards to that of their wards. “Imagine you have three children in different SHS, you just walk to our ATM, slot in your card and send money to each of them. You can do this at night, on a Sunday, virtually at your convenience” he added.
The e-zwich biometric card was introduced less than three years ago to reduce the use of cash and increase money in the banking system. Since its introduction, the e-zwich has witnessed a steady growth. Mr. Hesse said they have noticed that people who have ever used the card tend to increase the frequency of patronage. This according to him shows that the users clearly realized its usefulness. He reiterated that the world is drifting very fast towards cards and Ghana is no exception. He encouraged the public to use their e-zwich card and enjoy the e-zwich experience.