President outlines plans to boost tertiary education access

Ghana’s President John Mahama has bemoaned the significant number of qualified senior high school graduates who fail to gain admission into universities, writes Eric Mensah-Ayettey for 3News.com.

He said as many as 300,000 products of the country’s senior high schools are unable to access tertiary education. “Ghana has consistently missed its gross tertiary enrolment targets, with the rate below 22% – far from the 40% goal by 2030. Despite over 460,000 secondary graduates annually, 55% qualify for tertiary education, and only 35% (161,000) enrol, leaving over 300,000 without access,” the president said in his State of the Nation Address to parliament on 27 February.

“To address this, government is introducing a no-fee stress policy to eliminate tertiary admission fees, which currently serve as a barrier to higher education for some students … This will be supported by an enhanced Student Loan Scheme (Student Loan Plus). The no-fee policy will also cover all persons with disabilities who gain admission to tertiary institutions. Additionally, TVET [technical and vocational education and training] enrolment will be increased from 11% to 20% to boost employability,” he explained.
Full report on the 3News site