5 Things We Learned About Mahama’s Free Tertiary Tuition Promise From Haruna Iddrisu’s Vetting

The ‘No-Academic-Fees’ policy for all first-year students was one of the highlights of the vetting of the Minister-Designate for Education, Haruna Iddrisu. YEN.com.gh outlines five things to note about John Mahama's campaign promise.

The Minister-Designate for Education, Haruna Iddrisu, was controversially treated with kid gloves as he appeared before parliament's appointments committee, owing to his standing as a former caucus leader.

This went against some expectations, given that the education sector is bedevilled by critical issues regarding the quality of education, infrastructure challenges, and the status of the Free Senior High School policy.

Comments on the controversial 'No-Fees-Stress' policy to alleviate the hardships on parents and students in public tertiary institutions were also of interest.

In the National Democratic Congress' 2024 manifesto, it pledged to implement a policy of no academic fees for all first-year students in all public tertiary institutions.

However, Iddrisu's vetting suggested a need for more clarity on the policy. The issue is likely to come up during the planned stakeholder forum on education.

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5 points about Free Tertiary Tuition promise

Promise to be covered in the 2025 budget

Iddrisu outlined the expected cost of the policy based on estimates of the first-year student population. According to Iddrisu, the government will budget almost GH¢350 million. He told the committee to expect something concrete in Mahama's first budget.

“The country will require about GH¢345 million for the population of students who enter tertiary institutions, that is what the state will be required to do."

Policy could be flexible

Iddrisu suggested that the policy will be flexible and not binding on all parents. He noted that parents who wanted to pay academic fees would be allowed to do so.

“The beauty of this is that parents who are willing to pay can do so under this policy that has been introduced by the NDC."

Refund to current first-year students

The Minister-Designate for Education noted that the policy would also cover first-year students admitted before the 2025 budget.

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Iddrisu said the first-years of the 2024/2025 academic year who are now starting school because of delays in releasing WASSCE results would be entitled to a refund.

“We intend to provide that money to the affected universities, at least, to make refunds to those who have already paid fees.”

Progressive implementation of policy

The nominee suggested that the policy was an experiment and would be subject to review and expansion. However, he did not give timelines for assessing the policy.

“And for President Mahama, this is a model to experiment. We will look at it. How do we fare as a country? If it's possible for expansion, then he will expand it."

An underlining lack of clarity?

Iddrissu was asked about the policy's coverage, and he suggested that people in colleges of education, nursing schools, and others would not be left out.

However, he also suggested that professional courses like medicine and law would not be covered.

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The vetting has only served to underscore that the government has yet to outline the policy's beneficiaries clearly at this stage.

"For President Mahama, if he could grant free education to every Ghana, he would have done that. It depends on the size of the economy and what the economy, vis a vis demands from other sectors of the economy, can do.”

Source: YEN.com.gh