The Chief of Staff, Akosua Frema Osei Opare has charged universities across the country to take into account the current economic conditions facing the nation while charging school fees in order not to deprive any potential tertiary student of the opportunity to be in school.

The Chief of Staff made the appeal exclusively to Citi News when she joined President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and some government officials to worship at the Ridge Church on December 31, 2022, in Accra.

According to her, it’s imperative for universities to increase fees due to hikes in the prices of general goods, advising that it must be done with a certain level of consideration.

“I am sympathetic but sure as you know, if prices have gone high, then of course naturally it will cost more to run the universities, but I think just like we say, we don’t want to impoverish anybody. We don’t want potential tertiary students to drop out of school because you can build a nation well with high-level human resources.”

“Therefore it’s important that we maintain everybody who has received admission and qualifies to enter so you don’t want to overburden. It’s about dialogue and striking the balance so that while the universities may legitimately want to increase [fees], but at the same time, with considerations as to the importance of tertiary education in national development… the increase is minimum,” the Chief of Staff appealed.

The Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) weeks ago directed tertiary institutions to review fees for the next academic year by a maximum 15 percent increment in all public universities for the 2022/23 academic year.

The Graduate Students’ Association of Ghana (GRASAG) and some other student bodies have rejected the 15%, calling for extensive stakeholder engagement before it’s implemented.