‘No Guarantor’ Students Loan Bill
Passed
THE LAW requiring a guarantor for tertiary students to access loans from the Students Loan Trust has been amended by Parliament as part of government’s policy to fulfill its constitutional mandate under Article 25 of the Constitution.
The Students Loan Trust Fund
(Amendment) Bill, 2021, was read
the third time, with the motion
moved by the Deputy Minister for
Education, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour,
on behalf of the minister responsible
for education, and seconded by the
Chairman of the Committee on
Education, Kwabena Amankwa
Asiamah.
The bill was laid in the House on
December 16, 2021, by the
Deputy
Minister for Education,
Gifty Twum Ampofo
, in accordance
with Article
106(13) of the Constitution.
A number of amendments were
made to the bill, but a proposed
amendment to insert in the bill a
discretion to the board to “
request
any scheme established
under the
National Pensions Act,
2008
(Act776) on any pension
scheme
operated and managed by
any
institution in the country
made by a
borrower to that scheme,
pursuant
to a court order” was
rejected During
the consideration stage,
the NDC mp for akatsi
Akatsi South, Bernard
Ahiafor,
raised issues with the
sustenance of
the fund if beneficiaries are
made to
access the loan without
the state having
anything to hold
them to pay
back.
The NPP MP for Asante Akim North,
Andy Appiah-Kubi, explained that
the“no
guarantor” caveat of the new
student
Loan regime would be
checked
using
the national identification system
and digitalisation processes of the
government, such as GPS for
repayment of the loan, arguing that
the bill would benefit the
underprivileged students.
The NPP MP for Trobu,
Moses Anim,
proposed that beneficiaries
should be made to pay
back the loan from
their salaries, while in
employment
after school and national
service.
BACKGROUND
In 2017, the government pursued the
Free Senior High School (SHS)
programme to improve and expand
access to secondary and tertiary
education.
The successful implementation of
this programme made it possible for
many more students from poor
socio-economic backgrounds to
participate and complete their
secondary education.
The government said the high-performance rate
of Free SHS students who wrote the West Africa
Secondary School Certificate Examination in
2021, indicated that there would be an increase
In the number of students who will be
transitioning
to tertiary institutions in 2022.
“
As a result, continuing with a policy that requires
a guarantor to access loans from the Students
Loan Trust will serve as a hindrance to many
qualified students accessing the loan to continue
their education, as well as prevent the
government from fulfilling its constitutional
mandate under Article 25 of the Constitution.”
The government stated that if the Free SHS
graduates are unable to transition to the next
level of their education, the broad educational
goals would not be fully realised.
The Ghana Tertiary Education Report projects
tertiary enrolment to grow by forty per cent
(40%)
between 2019/2020 academic year and
2022/2023 academic year.
Consequently, removing barriers in the
acquisition of loans by tertiary students from the
Students Loan Trust Fund will facilitate the
provision of equal opportunities to everyone who
wants to have access to higher education.