Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the Vice-President, introduced the “No Guarantor Student Loan” policy at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi on Wednesday (8 June).
The proposal, a pledge made by the Akufo-Addo government ahead of the 2020 elections, aims to make post-secondary education more accessible to Ghanaian youth, particularly graduates of the popular Free Senior High School programme.
The burdensome and restricted regulation of students supplying three SSNIT contributions as guarantors before they may receive student loans for higher education has been repealed with the No Guarantor Student Loan Policy. The No Guarantor Student Loan Policy, as outlined by Bawumia, allows qualifying young Ghanaians to use their Ghanacard to acquire loans to pay for their post-secondary education.
Bawumia stated during the unveiling that the implementation of the pro-poor strategy will remove barriers and considerably expand equitable access to tertiary education.
“Removing the guarantor requirement is an important first step toward ensuring that cost is not a barrier to admission and participation in postsecondary education,” Dr. Bawumia stated.
“These are indeed exciting times to be a young person in Ghana.” Education may be pursued from primary to university levels with assured government assistance.”
The Vice President stated that loans have enabled financially challenged individuals to attend universities and pay after graduation and that the government of President Akufo-Addo recognized this need, as well as the challenges associated with students obtaining guarantors to secure loans, hence the introduction of the No Guarantor Policy to alleviate the burden on parents of qualified Free SHS graduates.
Dr. Bawumia expressed his excitement at the policy’s debut and how it will benefit the poor and provided surprising figures on how many students are unable to acquire guarantor-required student loans, potentially denying them access to tertiary education.
“There is evidence that the guarantor requirement is a barrier to entry.” Only 9.6 percent of the 325,000 eligible students whose information was supplied by all higher institutions on the Student Loans portfolio could obtain the loan in the 2019/20 academic year,’ Dr Bawumia disclosed.
“Similarly, just 8.4 percent of eligible students were able to obtain loans in 2016/2017, 9.8 percent in 2017/18, and 8.6 percent in 2015/16.” Furthermore, in the 2019/20 academic year, 42 percent of the 7,552 loan applicants were unable to submit their full forms due to a lack of acceptable guarantors,” he noted.
“In the NPP’s 2020 manifesto, we vowed to abolish the guarantor requirement as a prerequisite for loan availability.” In order to fulfil this promise, the government has altered the rules, and tertiary students will no longer be required to submit a Guarantor in order to get student loans. “All qualified tertiary students would have to present their Ghana Card to receive the loans beginning this academic year,” Dr. Bawumia remarked.
Dr. Bawumia was particularly pleased that the No Guarantor Student Loan Policy was made feasible through the Ghana card, owing to the government’s investment in digital infrastructure, which has made the Ghanacard a dependable national identity card for Ghanaians.
“This is one of the advantages we gain as a country from emphasizing digitization.” It is central to any serious economic management.”
Several speakers at the occasion, including KNUST Vice-Chancellor Prof. Rita Akosua Dickson and NUGS President Dennis Appiah Larbi, expressed thanks to President Akufo-administration Addo’s for the policy.
All of the speakers believe that the strategy will allow more intelligent but financially disadvantaged kids to pursue post-secondary education, which they now do not have access to owing to a lack of finance.
Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, Minister of Education, was also present at the event and expressed his Ministry’s commitment to ensuring the policy’s success.
After widening access to secondary school under the Free SHS policy, the No Guarantor Student Loan Policy is another educational milestone.
Qualified students must apply online using their Ghanacard to the Ghana Students Loan Trust, and successful students will have their fees paid directly to their educational schools.
