NDC Youth Manifesto: No Academic Fees For Level 100 Students, What It Actually Means

The NDC Youth Manifesto was launched today by the National Democratic Congress and it has many promises. Many of which are focused on the education sector and how to grant easy access to education for  the youth. One of these promises which courted massive public attention is the “No Fee Stress Programme”.

NDC Youth Manifesto: No Academic Fees For Level 100 Students, What It Actually Means

Details of this policy explain what prospective level 100 students seek to gain under the Mahama Government when elected into power. However, we must look at the policy and understand how it can benefit prospective level 100 students and the general public. On Page 6 of the Youth Manifesto, it was written “We will implement a no-fees stress programme to alleviate the financial burden on parents and students in financing tertiary education. We will implement a ‘No Academic Fees’ policy at the university for level 100 students”. Meaning level 100 students won’t need to pay academic fees in their first year of their tertiary education.

This sounds interesting as it would lift a part of stress from parents, guardians and students who look after themselves. The fees could be saved towards the next academic year or invested in other aspects which need support. Even a more interesting story for students who look out for themselves. It also added the fact that students loans would be redeployed to help continuing students who are in financial crisis as written “Redeploy the Student Loan Trust Fund Plus (SLTF Plus) to give continuing students the option to utilise students’ loans to finance directly their university fees to guarantee the peace of mind of the student to study”.

Here, we see an opportunity for both level 100s and continuing students. However, critics took to social media to criticize the policy.  The STLF has been in the system for a while now and critics think the Former President is trying to claim already existing policies. It remains unknown how the Former President seeks to form a full fledged policy around this already existing policy.

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What we need to know from the manifesto read today is that, if the John Mahama government is voted in power, level 100 students can access a no academic fees initiative in their first year of tertiary education, continuing students also have the hope of securing student loans to ease financial difficulties. Despite criticism from critics, the policy has received massive applauds from the public.