NDC announces policy to absorb full fees of 2021 first year tertiary students

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has reviewed its manifesto promise to absorb 50 per cent of fees of tertiary students for the 2020/2021 academic year with an enhanced package.

The party now says it will absorb the full fees of the students if it is given the mandate to rule the country again at the polls on Monday.

A statement signed by its National Chairman, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, and issued by the party yesterday said the policy, christened: Fa ninyinaa (take everything), was a recommendation by its Education policy group, which had been accepted and incorporated into its 2020 election manifesto.

“The NDC announces that it has accepted, for incorporation into the Peoples’ Manifesto, the recommendation of the Education policy group of the party that the next NDC government will absorb the full school fees of students who will be admitted to tertiary institutions in the 2020/2021 academic year.

“This new policy is an enhancement of our commitment in the People’s Manifesto to absorb 50 per cent of the school fees of all tertiary students for the 2020/2021 academic year through the “kyempe” (share equally) policy, which will now apply to only continuing students in tertiary institutions in the country,” it said.

It added that the presidential candidate of the party, Mr John Dramani Mahama, would, in due course, throw more light on the new package.

Manifesto launch

At its manifesto launch in Accra, the party explained that the decision to absorb 50 per cent of fees of tertiary students for the 2020/2021 academic year if elected to power was to cushion parents against the harsh effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the same event, Mr Mahama’s running mate, Prof. Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, had said: “I had the singular privilege of leading one of Ghana’s premier universities (the University of Cape Coast), where I saw closely challenges tertiary students, their families and friends faced.”