The Minister for Education, Haruna Iddrisu, has assured Parliament that there are no outstanding arrears under the government’s “No Fee Stress” policy for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 academic years, stressing that all necessary funds have been fully released and are being disbursed accordingly.

Speaking on the floor of Parliament on Thursday, June 18, Mr Iddrisu referenced assurances previously given at Takoradi Technical University regarding the government’s commitment to funding technical education across the country.

He recalled that during the engagement, it was indicated that by 2027, the GETFund would make a minimum allocation of GHS 10 million to each technical university across the country, amounting to a total of GHS 100 million.

Mr Iddrisu further assured Parliament that there were no outstanding obligations under the “No Fee Stress” initiative for the stated academic years.

“ There is no outstanding obligation in respect of ‘No Fee Stress’ for 2024, 2025, 2025, 2026,” he stated.

The Minister explained that the Ministry of Finance has fully released funds to the Student Loan Trust Fund, which is responsible for implementing the policy as well as the free tertiary education programme for persons with disabilities.

“The Minister for Finance has made releases adequately to the Student Loan Trust, which is executing the ‘No Fee Stress’ and the free education for persons with disability,” he said.

He noted that the role of the implementing agencies is largely administrative, centred on verifying student eligibility before payments are made.

“What we do is just authentication. Are you the real student? Are you a student of this particular institution? And more importantly, are you a first-year student?” he explained.

Mr Iddrisu said once verification is completed, payments are processed without delay, adding that funds have already been released and disbursement is ongoing.

He emphasised that the policy continues to function effectively, with no financial backlog or arrears recorded for the stated academic years.