Consider the economy before imposing fees - Chief of Staff to universities

The Chief of Staff, Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, has admonished universities to consider economic conditions before charging fees.

According to a citinewsroomonline.com report, the chief of staff said students may suffer if institutions increase prices to an unreasonable level due to the nation's current economic struggles.

“I am sympathetic but sure as you know, if prices have gone high, then of course naturally it will cost more to run the universities, but I think just like we say, we don’t want to impoverish anybody. We don’t want potential tertiary students to drop out of school because you can build a nation well with high-level human resources.

“Therefore it’s important that we maintain everybody who has received admission and qualifies to enter so you don’t want to overburden. It’s about dialogue and striking the balance so that while the universities may legitimately want to increase [fees], but at the same time, with considerations as to the importance of tertiary education in national development… the increase is minimum,” the Chief of Staff appealed.

Speaking in the wee hours of January 1, 2023, at Ridge Church in Accra, she added that, it’s imperative for universities to increase fees due to hikes in the prices of general goods, advising that it must be done with a certain level of consideration.

Meanwhile, the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) weeks ago directed tertiary institutions to review fees for the next academic year by a maximum 15 percent increment in all public universities for the 2022/23 academic year.

AM/MA