Rent is now the biggest problem on our campuses. We need to respond to it, Minister for Education Haruna Iddrisu has said via Joy FM’s Super Morning Show. The Minister made the remarks as he outlined government interventions to ease accommodation pressure on students in public universities across Ghana.
According to the Minister, the main challenge facing students is no longer tuition fees following government’s No Fees Stress policy which provides free tertiary education for first-year students and persons with disabilities, but accommodation. He said poor maintenance of public university halls and lack of investment in student housing had created opportunities for private hostel operators to charge high rents.
Haruna Iddrisu said the President of the National Union of Ghana Students had met him and presented a proposal for rent-related loans through the Student Loan Trust. He said he listened very well and was taking it seriously. He also disclosed that universities need to negotiate better terms with private hostel operators, saying they just come and milk our students and government does not find that acceptable.
To address the crisis, the Minister has proposed the establishment of a committee to recommend permissible annual rent increases in public universities. The committee is expected to advise Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson on appropriate percentage under the Fees and Charges Act, with inflation as a guide and a figure between five and ten percent per year as example. He stressed it remains a proposal and not yet an approved cap.
We do not support exorbitant rent prices being charged across the country, he said on Joy FM, adding that a committee including Ghana Tertiary Education Commission, vice-chancellors and student representatives could even recommend keeping rents unchanged for four years to give students certainty. The Rent Control Department has already begun inspections at hostels including University of Ghana following a NUGS petition, with some operators charging up to GH¢10,000 per semester for rooms without air conditioning.
Government says it will not allow unlimited laissez-faire principles to dictate access to accommodation in public education, and will reflect social values in delivering public good. The committee will continue engagements with university management, private hostel operators, student bodies and regulatory bodies to find lasting and fair solution to rising hostel fees.
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