The Vice Presidential Candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, says the next administration of the party will transform the country’s education to meet 21st century demands.
According to her, the free education policy, for instance, will be more inclusive to cover students in private senior high schools and underserved and deprived parts of the country.
Speaking at the launch of the 2020 manifesto of the leading opposition party, Prof Opoku-Agyemang said her experience as the Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) in the past will come handy in the next NDC administration.
“I had a singular privilege of leading one of Ghana’s premier universities and I have seen closer a challenge that tertiary students face and, of course, those of their families and their friends too.”
To that end, she said the party backs faculty and academia of the universities in their aversion for the Public Universities Bill.
“It is a weak attempt to introduce political control over our universities and to erode academic freedom and institutional autonomy.”
That said, the immediate past Minister of Education promised that the next NDC administration will absorb 50 per cent of fees for the 2020/21 academic year for all university students “as an incentive to mitigate the effects of Covid-19 on students and their families”.
“As a long-time investment in financial access beyond coverage, we intend to increase the students’ loan amount to be commensurate with prevailing educational costs.
“We will restore the students loan plans initiative that we created, which takes care of newly admitted students who are facing financial difficulties even in paying their admission fees. This loan repayment will only begin when beneficiaries gain employment after school.”
By Emmanuel Kwame Amoh|3news.com|Ghana