Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, has disclosed that the government has spent GH¢917 million so far to support 321,807 tertiary students under the No-Fees-Stress Policy.
Mr Iddrisu said the funds were released from the Consolidated Fund through the Ministry of Education’s budgetary support to help eligible Ghanaian students access tertiary education without the immediate burden of academic fees.
“Arguably, and statistically, GH¢917 million has so far been spent to support students under the No-Fee-Stress, covering a student population of 321,807 students,” he said.
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The Education Minister disclosed this during a stakeholder engagement on the implementation of the No-Fees-Stress Initiative at Dawu in the Eastern Region.
The programme, organised by the Students Loan Trust Fund (SLTF), was held under the theme: “Strengthening No-Fees-Stress Implementation through Institutional Partnerships for Inclusive, Equitable and Sustainable Student Financing.”
The engagement brought together representatives of Vice-Chancellors Ghana, Vice-Chancellors of Technical Universities, Principals of Colleges of Education, the Federation of Ghana Medical Students, civil society organisations and Parliament’s Select Committee on Education.
Mr Iddrisu acknowledged that one of the major challenges facing the No-Fees-Stress Policy is the timely release of funds needed for its implementation.
He stressed that delays in releasing budgetary allocations could undermine the objective of the initiative and called for a more predictable funding system.
“So regardless of your financial standing, regardless of your geographical location, regardless of the status of your parents, an eligible Ghanaian who qualifies to access higher education must be supported by government to access higher education,” he said.
According to the Minister, the policy is intended to ensure that financial circumstances do not prevent qualified Ghanaians from pursuing tertiary education.
He further declared that the No-Fees-Stress Policy had come to stay, describing it as an important component of the government’s human capital development agenda.
Mr Iddrisu also disclosed that the government has opened the Students Loan Trust Fund’s support to students studying Law, a move he said would help broaden access to legal education.
He said similar support would be extended to medical education in the coming years.
“We will do the same for medical education in the coming years,” he said.
The Minister argued that human capital development should be treated as a strategic investment rather than simply an expenditure item.
“Maybe we should now accept that human capital development be construed as a strategic investment requirement of every government and sufficient budgetary allocation provided for it,” he said.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Students Loan Trust Fund, Dr Saajida Shiraz, said the SLTF had taken on an expanded mandate following the introduction of the government’s flagship No-Fees-Stress Policy.
She said the initiative was designed to ensure that a student’s financial circumstances would not become a barrier to tertiary education.
The policy has five major components: the no-academic-fee policy, free tertiary education for persons with disabilities, the Students Loan Plus initiative, an enhanced traditional loan scheme with higher loan amounts and reduced interest rates, and the digitalisation of the loan system.
Dr Shiraz also announced a new “bridge funding” mechanism to address urgent financial needs of students, particularly those seeking access to special education.
“For this academic year, we came up with a very creative financing model to deal with the urgent funding needs of students now trying to access special education, and it is that funding we are calling bridge funding,” she said.
The Board Chairperson of the SLTF, Cynthia Amerley Amarteifio, said access, inclusion, affordability and sustainability had been placed at the centre of the government’s education agenda under the Reset Agenda.
The government’s latest expenditure figures highlight the scale of the No-Fees-Stress Policy, while the Education Ministry’s call for timely funding points to the need for sustained financial support to ensure the programme meets its objective of expanding access to tertiary education.