Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia says the newest educational intervention by the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the guarantor-free tertiary students loan, is to create equal opportunities for access to tertiary education in Ghana.
The Akufo-Addo government has already delivered an unprecedented intervention at the senior high school (SHS) level. In its first year of assuming office in 2017, the Akufo-Addo government fulfilled its promise to make secondary education free, and three years on, over 1.2 million children at all levels of secondary school are benefitting from the intervention, which also includes free meals, uniforms and text books.
As the first batch of the Free SHS graduates await their WASCEE examination results, and many others struggle to access tertiary education, Vice President Bawumia says the visionary government of Nana Akufo-Addo has put in place a policy which will allow qualified senior high school students to access tertiary education without any hindrance.
“We have a big vision for the education of Ghanaian children and our focus is not to leave them at SHS but to see all qualified SHS graduates progress to the university,” Dr. Bawumia said at Dunkwa-On-Offin on Sunday.
“If we have brought Free SHS because many parents can’t afford to finance the secondary education of their children, how do we expect same parents to be able to pay for their children to attend universities? That is why we have a new policy, through which all qualified students can access loans and pay their fees.”
Dr. Bawumia explained in detail, requirements for the tertiary student’s loan, which will replace the current students loan.
“All that is required is Ghana Card. Once you have your Ghana Card, you can access a loan to pay for your tertiary fees and then pay back in installments after National Service and another one-year grace period after national service, by which time you would hopefully be working.”
“This is a new thinking by the visionary Akufo-Addo, which will ensure that qualified Free SHS graduates who cannot pay for their university education won’t be left behind at the secondary level. We want every qualified child to go the university. This is what we mean by equal opportunity.”
