Minister for Education, Haruna Iddrisu, has assured Parliament that there are no outstanding arrears under the government’s “No Fee Stress” initiative for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 academic years, emphasizing that all required funds have been fully released and are currently being disbursed.
Speaking on the floor of Parliament on Thursday, June 18, Mr. Iddrisu referenced earlier assurances given at Takoradi Technical University regarding government’s commitment to financing technical education nationwide.
He recalled that during that engagement, it was indicated that by 2027, the GETFund would allocate a minimum of GHS 10 million to each technical university, amounting to a total of GHS 100 million.
Reiterating his assurance to Parliament, Mr. Iddrisu stated: “There is no outstanding obligation in respect of ‘No Fee Stress’ for 2024, 2025, 2025, 2026.”
The Minister explained that the Ministry of Finance has already released funds to the Student Loan Trust Fund, which is responsible for implementing both the “No Fee Stress” policy and the free tertiary education programme for persons with disabilities.
“The Minister for Finance has made releases adequately to the Student Loan Trust, which is executing the ‘No Fee Stress’ and the free education for persons with disability,” he said.
He clarified that the role of the implementing agencies is primarily administrative, focusing on verifying student eligibility before payments are processed.
“What we do is just authentication. Are you the real student? Are you a student of this particular institution? And more importantly, are you a first-year student?” he explained.
Mr. Iddrisu added that once verification is complete, payments are made without delay, noting that funds have already been released and disbursement is ongoing.
He stressed that the policy continues to operate effectively, with no financial backlog or arrears recorded for the stated academic years.
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