President John Dramani Mahama has urged heads of public tertiary institutions to implement the newly launched No Fees Stress policy with “transparency, compassion, and excellence.”
Speaking at the official launch of the policy in Koforidua on Friday, July 4, President Mahama emphasised the need for Ghana’s universities, colleges of education, technical universities, and nursing training institutions to deliver the intervention efficiently, ensuring no student is left behind due to financial hardship.
“To our tertiary institutions,” he said, “implement this policy with transparency, compassion, and excellence. Let us make this a model of effective public delivery.”
The No Fees Stress policy is a major equity-driven initiative that eliminates academic-related fees for all first-year students admitted into public tertiary institutions starting from the current academic year. It aims to remove one of the most significant barriers to tertiary education in Ghana; the inability to pay upfront fees.
President Mahama explained that the programme is not a replacement for existing allowances or student loans, but a complementary initiative focused on easing the financial burden of entry into higher education. “It lightens the heaviest burden, the cost of entry, that keeps thousands of brilliant students outside our gates of learning,” he stated.
The President highlighted the importance of tertiary education in national development, describing it as “the engine that powers a modern society” and reaffirmed the state’s constitutional duty to ensure equal access to higher education.
He shared sobering statistics illustrating the financial obstacles students face:
- In the 2022/2023 academic year, over 150,000 students were admitted into public tertiary institutions, yet many could not enrol due to high fees.
- Students in nursing and teacher training colleges received monthly stipends of GHS 200 but were required to pay admission fees as high as GHS 2,340.
- University academic-related fees could rise to GHS 8,000 – far beyond the reach of most families and the GHS 2,550 annual student loan.
He noted that the first batch of 15,000 students had already had their academic user fees cleared under the new policy.
READ: Behind every unpaid fee is a dream deferred – Mahama
The President also appealed to development partners and the private sector to support the programme through bursaries, endowments, and innovative financing models.
He charged all stakeholders to make the most of this opportunity to transform Ghana’s education system. “Let us work together to raise a generation of Ghanaians who are confident, skilled, and ready to build a prosperous and united nation,” he said.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
