Source of funding for NDC’s free first-year university tuition policy [Listen]

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has revealed the source of funding for its proposed free first-year tuition in public universities.

The National Youth Organiser, George Opare Addo has said the NDC government will cut down the budget for government machinery.

Pablo as he is popularly known disclosed this on Adom FM’s morning show, Dwaso Nsem, Tuesday.

“When the NDC left office in 2016, the government machinery budget was around GH₵600 million but now it’s around GH₵2 billion. So if we can fund that, then we will get down the budget and use the money for the policy,” he said.

The NDC flagbearer, John Mahama at the launch of the Youth Manifesto launch on Monday promised to provide tuition-free education for first-year students in public universities.

The former President explained that, the policy aimed at increasing access to higher education, particularly for students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

A section of Ghanaians have since questioned the sustainability of the policy, while demanding the source of funding.

But Pablo has said the NDC has conducted all the necessary research and analysis to facilitate the smooth implementation of the programme.

He mentioned that the NDC is anticipating about 125,000 students, with the cost for academic user fees estimated at around $30 million per year—a figure he believes is feasible for the government to manage.

“When we did the analysis, depending on the school, none charged more than GH₵2,000 for academic user fee. But let’s assume it’s around GH₵ 2,200 per student,” he noted.

In a related development, Mr Opare Addo had earlier said the NDC plan to use the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) to finance the initiative.

Source: Gertrude Otchere

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