A professor at the University of Ghana Ransford Gyampo has told the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) John Dramani Mahama to honour his promise that the ‘no academic fees for level 100 students’ initiative will not affect subvention to the universities, rather the subventions will be increased if he wins the elections to become president.
He served notice that Mr Mahama would be criticized heavily if he failed to honour the promise.
“If the subventions are going to be increased then we can use them to cover the expenses,
If you honor these promises it will be well with you but if you don’t, I will be here and criticize you,” Prof Gyampo said on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday August 17.
Given the fact that some students are unable to pay for their admission fees at the universities, Prof Gyampo further stated, the ‘no academic fees for level 100 students’ promise will help those needy but brilliant students.
Prof Gyampo says that initially when he heard about the policy announcement he was worried because he thought it would take away the sources of revenue for the universities to run their operations vis-a-vis the dwindling of the government subventions.
However, he said, the assurance by Mr Mahama that government subventions to the universities will be increased and released timely settles the doubt in his mind.
“In a way, I may be tempted to agree with him given what I have seen, we pay fees for people, ” he said.
He added “My heartbeat beating because in a way he is taking out a huge chunk of money from the universities to cater for other expenses.
“Over the years govt subventions to universities have dwindled, to the point that money can only pay salaries but universities and it’s running here beyond paying salaries, there should be money to pay for light bills, and water bills. ”
Mr Mahama while explaining the policy proposal said that the ‘no academic fees for level 100 students’ initiative will cost between 270 million and 290 million Cedis.
He assured Ghanaians that his administration would raise money to fund this project.
Addressing a gathering in Juapong on Tuesday, August 13, Mr Mahama said “we have costed it and we approximate that for all first-year students in public tertiary institutions, it should cost anywhere between 270 to about 290 million Ghana Cedis. Let me tell you something, the president, a few years ago, his travel budget in nine months amounted to 69 million Cedis, they held one cabinet retreat at the presidency, it cost almost 5 million Cedis.
He added “we do not want, especially in the first year when the students are coming in for the first time for them to go through what we call fee stress, that is why we call it a ‘no fee stress policy’ and so we are saying that we can absorb the academic user fee but it will not affect the subventions of governments to the universities and institutions of higher learning.
“The subvention from the government has kept declining, we are going to increase the subventions but apart from that we will make sure that universities get their subventions on time so that they can balance their budget.”
Source: 3news.com
