AFRICANEWS

Ghana

Costs threaten higher education

Education

The cost of higher education in Ghana continues to soar. This situation has created a major conflict between the government and the parents while students have taken to the streets to protest the high fees.

Some people call it a crisis in tertiary education, others call it a slight misunderstanding between parents and the government on the issue of co- funding tertiary education. Whatever one calls it, there seems to be a crisis of a sort that impinges seriously on the future direction of tertiary education in Ghana.

Over the last four years, the country's universities have been shut four times over differences in increment of student allowances on one hand and staff salaries on the other.

The latest closure stemmed from the decision of the government to introduce what it called 'academic user fees which shot up by 350 percent from ¢150,000($46) to ¢750,000 ($231). This led to student agitation that resulted in the closure of the University of Ghana in August and delayed the reopening of the remaining four universities.

Parents and guardians became jittery for two reasons. First, closures of universities in the past had led to the disruption of the academic calendar; making students to spend four or five years on a three-year course. The country is still suffering the repercussions of the backlog of students waiting to enter the universities as a result constant closure of the universities. Out of frustrations, waiting students have either gotten pregnant or given up the idea of university education all together.

The second reason has to do with the ability of parents and guardians to pay the new user fees. Salary levels are very low in Ghana, with some workers taking home as low as ¢70,000 ($21) a month. Low salaries apart, general poverty level in the country, especially in the rural areas is very high. Many people are unable to make two meals a day, let alone pay a child's school fees. Against this background, many poor parents feel the introduction of the user fees is an attempt by the government to deny their children tertiary education. At the moment, a first degree is the minimum requirement to fill a vacancy in Ghana. It is therefore the wish of every parent to educate his or her child to the university level. This notwithstanding, the government's argument that it can no longer bear the cost of tertiary education alone cannot be brushed aside. The government's stance raises serious questions on whether it should continue to fund tertiary education or not. The answer depends on who one talks to.

The battle lines were drawn from these stand points. In order to draw public sympathy and drive home the need for cost-sharing, the Ministry of Education organised a forum in September. But students rather hijacked the forum and turned public opinion against the government. The following day, the students calling themselves "mmobrowa" in local Twi dialect (meaning the down trodden) took to the streets to put pressure on the government to withdraw the fees. The police intercepted them on their way to present a petition to President Jerry Rawlings, and left many bruised, some with broken limbs.

The government subsequently succumbed to public opinion and announced a special ¢3 billion($923,076) fund to aid needy students. The modality for selecting needy students immediately became a source of confrontation while the overture was yet to be accepted. Quite expectedly, the students rejected the government offer and instead demanded ¢10 billion($307,69231) for all the tertiary students.

The government early October further announced a reduction of the fees by 30 per cent to diffuse mounting tension. But the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) fought back, describing the slash as unacceptable. In a statement, NUGS called for nothing short of the withdrawal of the fees, saying the reviewed fees were still above the reach of many students.

At the time of filing this report schools had just reopened amid fears that students would resist the attempt by university authorities to enforce the government directive.

It was unclear if many students, especially those from the northern sector of the country, where poverty is most prevalent would make it. Part of this dilemma is reflected in terms of human development indicators. Although northern Ghana has at least 20 per cent of the national population, the three regions collectively account for 60 per cent of the poorest people in the country. That means that six out of every set of 10 poorest people in Ghana come from the three regions.

It is in view of this that a Northern Educational Trust Fund (NETDUND) to raise funds to support exceptional students of northern extraction to undertake secondary and tertiary education was recently formed in Accra. NETFUND draws its membership from the Northern Region, Upper West and Upper Regions.

In a statement NETFUND traced the current problems of the three regions to the colonial era when Britain used the human resources of the regions as a source of cheap labour to develop the export economy of the southern regions.

"In this context, while colonial educational policy developed schools in the southern regions of the Gold Coast, the northern territories was neglected and left illiterate". The statement said when the country obtained independence in 1957, there was only one graduate from the territory who qualified from Britain. It said due to these historical and other factors, the problems in educational sector are greater and getting much worse in the three northern regions. School drop out rate, both basic and tertiary in the three regions is the highest in the country.

Statistics on admission from the University of Ghana for 1991-1992 and 1998-1999 academic years paint gloomy pictures for students in northern Ghana. For example, 15 of the country's top secondary schools that account for 39 per cent of admission to the University of Ghana are all based in the southern sector. The country's top 45 schools account for 96.3 per cent of total admissions to the University of Ghana. Only two-Tamale Secondary School and Navrongo Secondary School are among these top 45.

Gender considerations makes the picture even more bleak according to NETFUND. In the 1998/99 academic year, a total of 1,033 girls gained admission to the University of Ghana. Out of the total only 27 girls came from the three northern regions.

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