President Akufo-Addo has stated that the government will offer scholarships to 31,000 Free SHS students and provide payments to 27,252 public tertiary institution students for bursaries, thesis, and postgraduate student awards this year.
His Excellency Akufo-Addo said that the Scholarships Secretariat will also give long-stay allowances to medical students and allowances to the physically challenged.
“This year, decentralized district level local tertiary scholarship scheme is set to award scholarships to 31,000 students across the country,” Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo stated in a social media post on Thursday.
He added “the Secretariat will also make payments to 27,252 public tertiary university students for bursaries, thesis grants to postgraduate students, long-stay allowances to medical students and allowances to the physically challenged
In a related event, the central government has yet to announce a new date for the inauguration of the “No guarantor student loan policy,” which was originally scheduled for Monday, December 20, 2022.
“We are extremely sorry to inform you that the official launch for the ‘No guarantor student loan policy’ has been postponed till further notice owing to circumstances beyond our control,” the National Union of Ghana Students stated in a statement.
The Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, has stated that the adoption of the “No guarantor student loan policy” will result in a 60 percent rise in demand for student loans for tertiary education in Ghana.
Yaw Opoku Mensah, deputy spokesman for the Education Ministry, said the Ghanaian education system is poised to undergo yet another pragmatic reform that will recognize every child’s constitutional rights.
“The policy, which will be announced at a later date,” a representative for the Education Ministry said, “would provide access to higher education for Free SHS graduates, particularly those from low socioeconomic backgrounds.”
“It will also extend access to tertiary education by boosting Ghana’s Tertiary Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) from 18.8% to 40% by 2030, as announced by the President in his State of the Nation Address,” he continued.
“All that is required is to be a Ghanaian with a Ghana Card, E-zwich Card, and also an admission letter from an approved tertiary institution with an accredited Programme,” he explained the procedure of obtaining a student loan.
Eligible and qualified applicants, according to Yaw Mensah, should apply online at https://sltf.gov.gh, a government organization under the Ministry of Education (MoE) that is responsible for disbursing the loans.