By Elizabeth Larkwor Baah
Sakumono, Jan. 21, GNA – Seventy per cent of the 2024 batch of Free Senior High School (SHS) graduates have been placed under fee-paying programmes in state-sponsored universities, Mr. Richard Kovey, Convener for the Campaign Against Privatization and Commercialization of Education (CAPCOE), has disclosed.
Mr. Kovey, citing reports from parents and other sources, stated that these students, who obtained grades between aggregate eight and 14, even though they met the universities’ cut-off points, had been offered admissions on a fee-paying basis.
He therefore called on Mr. Haruna Iddrisu, the Minister of Education designate, to restore order in the admission procedures of public universities when confirmed.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), he condemned the practice of placing qualified students under fee-paying schemes and appealed for strict sanctions against the abuse of office and the imposition of unauthorised fees on eligible students.
He also urged the government to commission an audit into the utilisation of funds collected under fee-paying programmes.
He noted that during the admission application period, the universities’ websites indicated cut-off points ranging from aggregate 14 to nine for most programmes, with a few requiring an aggregate eight, however, applicants with the requisite results were later informed that their results had been reviewed.
“The sad reality is that applicants with aggregate 10, nine, and eight met the requirements and applied as regular students and were hopeful of being picked to pursue their dream programmes, unfortunately, they were disappointed as the universities picked them and placed them on fee-paying options,” he emphasised.
Mr. Kovey further highlighted that many of these students were beneficiaries of the Free SHS initiative, designed to enable students from financially disadvantaged backgrounds to access secondary education, stressing that denying them tertiary education on fee-paying grounds undermines the purpose of the policy.
He also criticised the practice of reserving regular admissions for students with aggregates of six and seven for programmes such as actuarial science, biochemistry, nursing, food science, and computer science.
“The university is supposed to be a centre of higher learning where teachers are equipped to handle students from diverse backgrounds. It is unacceptable to exclude qualified students based on arbitrary cut-off points,” he stated.
Mr. Kovey questioned why universities with qualified lecturers, including PhD holders, could not accommodate students who have already mastered foundational skills in reading, writing, and arithmetic.
“We believe these actions are deliberate attempts by university authorities to commercialise education, creating a profit-driven system that fosters social inequality; these practices must be reversed immediately,” he added.
He proposed that applicants with aggregates of 14 and above, who were placed under fee-paying options, should be reinstated as regular students and also suggested the introduction of free first-year tertiary education for such students.
“If universities can admit fee-paying students and train them alongside regular students in the same lecture halls and laboratories, then the issue of cut-off points is unjustifiable; this approach denies poor and vulnerable students the opportunity to pursue their dreams. We will not hesitate to protest this gross injustice,” Mr. Kovey warned.
GNA