A former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof. Ivan Addae Mensah is warning of dire consequences should the government go ahead with plans to wean public tertiary institutions off its payroll.
He contends the proposal should be reconsidered to avert any potential threat to teaching and learning at the tertiary level.
For Prof. Ivan Addae Mensah, although said details on the plan are scanty, he believes public universities stand a huge risk of experiencing financial difficulties if such a decision is implemented.
“Like what we do a lot of times in this country, we announce policies before we see the blueprint for those policies. I don’t know if this means we will be going back to the original system where universities are given lump sum or grants to run which covers only 10- 20 percent of salaries and the universities are to look for the remaining 80-90 percent to pay salaries. If that is how the universities are to run, then I am afraid it has a lot of implications”, he said on the Citi Breakfast Show on Tuesday.
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Prof. Ivan Addae Mensah advised the government against going ahead with the policy because of the challenges it poses.
He expressed concern that the move is likely to overburden the ordinary university student who would have to bear the brunt of abnormal fee increments as a result.
“The easiest way for the universities to raise revenue will be from fees, and university fees are not cheap. It will not cost less than GH¢12,000 per annum for science, medical, or engineering student if it is to just cover salaries not to talk about acquiring equipment, etc.”
“About 80-90 percent of the equipment in our universities are bought from research allowance and grants from proposals lecturers have written and not from government. So the move is going to bring a lot of problems and other constraints which would have to be shifted to the [student] which I think [the government is not ready for].”
Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has said the government will take off public tertiary institutions from its payroll.
Instead, the institutions will be provided with a fixed amount block of grants as part of expenditure-reducing measures to mitigate the current economic woes in the country.
The government’s decision has been met with mixed reactions from both the tertiary teachers’ union and various stakeholders in the education space.
While others think it is in order, there are those of the view it must be abandoned.
