Student leadership kicks against cost-sharing arrangement
The student leadership in the country has kicked against the cost-sharing arrangement reached by the stakeholders during a dialogue at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA).
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Dubbed, “The UPSA Declaration”, the stakeholders said cost of utilities in public tertiary education institutions should be shared among the government, tertiary education institutions, staff and students.
While the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) has kicked against the cost-sharing as proposed by the UPSA Declaration, the Ghana National Union of Polytechnic Students (GNUPS) believed that students residing in the traditional halls were paying so much for accommodation and fees that should be able to cater for the utilities.
Dialogue inconclusive
On the UPSA Declaration, the NUGS President, Mr Prosper Dzitse, said the UPSA dialogue was inconclusive and for that matter, there was no declaration, saying “because the agreement was that the report of the dialogue was to be forwarded to all the stakeholders to make sure that all the parties accept the declaration as the true reflection of what happened.
“But all of a sudden, we heard the deputy minister commenting on the matter that the stakeholders agreed on a cost-sharing formula. And I asked, how and when?,” he queried.
Tertiary education too expensive
Mr Dzitse said students in the country were paying too much fees, and added that asking them to pay utility bills would overburden the students.
He said tertiary education in the country was gradually becoming a privilege and not a right, as so many students were dropping out of school and any extra cost such as the payment of utility bills would further worsen the plight of the student.
Mr Dzitse said it was the responsibility of the government to provide accommodation for students and the fact that the government was unable to do so and the private sector was supporting, was not a good reason for the government to shift responsibility to the students.
The Coordinating Secretary of the GNUPS, Mr Kwame Amponsah Manu, said anything that would add to what the students were already paying was unacceptable and would be resisted at all cost.
Cost sharing
Mr Amponsah recalled the USPA dialogue and said the majority at the end of the dialogue believed that it was not fair for the government to continue to pay for the 30 per cent of the students while the majority were left to pay for themselves.
“On the cost-sharing, our position is simple, by principle, our union thinks that looking at the information given us at the forum, it is unsustainable going forward for the government to continue to use the tax payers’ money to pay for such utilities every year.
Mr Manu believed that the UPSA proposal could still stand without necessarily asking students to pay more.
UPSA declaration
A joint declaration on utilisation and management of utilities in public tertiary education institutions in Ghana dubbed, “UPSA Declaration”, issued by the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) on behalf of the Ministry of Education and stakeholders, said “government should bear the cost of utilities supplied to academic, (teaching and learning, research and facilities) health and administrative facilities in public tertiary education institutions”.
“Students on campus should bear the cost of utilities in students’ residential facilities especially as more than 70 per cent of students currently live in private hostels off campus and pay for their utilities thus creating an unfair arrangement where government subsidies benefit only the 30 per cent minority of students on campus.
“Tertiary education institutions should pay the cost of utilities supplied to commercialised units such as guest houses, restaurants, printing press and commercial agricultural products processing units and etc”.
“Staff occupying residential facilities owned by public tertiary education institutions should continue to bear the cost of utilities supplied to those facilities,” the declaration said.
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