At the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia introduced the 'No Guarantor' Student Loan Policy on Wednesday.
Prior to the 2020 elections, the Akufo-Addo government promised to make postsecondary education accessible to Ghanaian youth, particularly graduates of the heavily subscribed Free Senior High School (SHS) policy.
The policy eliminates the onerous and restrictive requirement that students provide three SSNIT contributions as guarantors before being eligible for student loans for higher study.
According to Dr. Bawumia, the scheme allows qualifying young Ghanaians to obtain loans to pay their postsecondary education by using their Ghana card. BARRIERS TO TERTIARY EDUCATION ARE REMOVED
Vice President Bawumia, speaking at the event, stated that the implementation of the pro-poor strategy will remove barriers and considerably expand inclusive access to tertiary education.
"Removing the guarantor requirement is an important first step toward ensuring that cost is not a barrier to postsecondary education access and participation."
"These are indeed exciting times to be a young person in Ghana." "Education may be pursued from primary to higher levels with guaranteed government backing," Dr Bawumia remarked.
He stated that loans have enabled financially challenged individuals to attend universities and pay after graduation, and that President Akufo-government Addo's recognized this need, as well as the challenges associated with students obtaining guarantors to secure loans, resulting in the introduction of the Policy to relieve the burden of parents of qualified Free SHS graduates.
Dr Bawumia expressed his excitement at the policy's debut and how it will benefit the poor, providing stunning figures on how many students are unable to obtain guarantor-required student loans, thereby denying them access to tertiary education.
"There is evidence that the guarantor requirement is a barrier to entry. Out of the 325,000 eligible students whose information was provided to the Student Loans website by all tertiary institutions, In the 2019/20 academic year, just 9.6% of the portfolio had access to the loan," he stated.
"Similarly, just 8.4% of eligible students were able to obtain loans in 2016/2017, 9.8% in 2017/18, and 8.6% in 2015/16. Furthermore, during the 2019/20 academic year, 42% of the 7,552 loan applicants were unable to submit their full forms due to a lack of qualifying guarantors," he noted.
"In the NPP's 2020 manifesto, we vowed to abolish the guarantor requirement as a prerequisite for loan access. In order to keep this commitment, the government has changed the rules such that tertiary students would no longer be required to provide a guarantor when applying for student loans. To get the loans, all qualified tertiary students must submit their Ghana Cards starting this academic year," Dr. Bawumia said.
He was also ecstatic that the No Guarantor Student Loan Policy was made possible by the Ghanacard, owing to the government's investment in digital infrastructure, which has made the Ghanacard a trustworthy national identity card for Ghanaians.
"One of the advantages we gain as a country from emphasizing digitization is this." It's at the heart of every real economic strategy."