The Ministry of Education has ordered all public universities to comply with the 15% fee increment directive which was approved by Parliament.
The order comes after the Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum met with management of the University of Ghana and other public universities in Accra.
Speaking to the media after the meeting, the Education Minister said all the universities will abide by the 15 percent as mandated by Parliament.
“You have heard from our great university about steps that they have taken in cases where the fees were over 15 percent. They are doing refunds. They want to live within the 15 percent as mandated by Parliament.”
The meeting comes on the back of accusations by the student body that the public universities had increased their fees beyond the 15 percent threshold approved by Parliament.
The University of Cape Coast, the University of Education, Winneba and the University of Mines and Technology have all also resolved to comply with the 15 percent of fees charged last academic year.
Prior to the meeting, the Ministry of Education issued a statement which said: “The Minister for Education, Dr. Yaw Adutwum, has once again intervened and has invited the universities in question. We have the University of Ghana (UG), University of Cape Coast (UCC), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and some other public universities. So we have extended invitation to them, hopefully, we will meet them together with GTEC this Thursday [January 5, 2023]. The entire aim is to be able to find a lasting solution or resolve this issue”.
“What is most important is that the law is clear, the law has provided the framework upon which fees should be charged. Parliament has done its work, so the expectation was that if there was any contrary view or disagreement, recourse is made to the law. In issues like this, it is not only about enforcement per se, but sometimes compliance is also very important. So when Parliament, the legislative arm of government makes a decision backed by law, and we have a university that goes contrary with the decisions, the other question is what happened to compliance,” the statement stated.
The Pro-Vice-Chancellor in charge of Academic and Student Affairs at the University of Ghana, Professor Gordon Awandare, had blamed the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) for the confusion that surrounded the increment in the facility user fees by the university.
Pulse
