The Former Pro Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, Professor George Kwaku Toku Oduro says it is important government considers public universities as a public good venture and continue providing needed subventions for their operations.
The Ranking Member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education, Mr Peter Nortsu-Kotoe recently stated that it is time for public universities to wean themselves of government subventions, adding that the continuous dependence on the government for subvention for most of their projects was making the universities not to think outside the box.
Reacting to the statement on the ATLANTIC WAVE on Tuesday, Prof. Oduro indicated that if government weans off the subventions, the universities will have to bare all the costs of operations including salaries of staff which will force universities charge huge sums of money from students.
He said “this is something that stakeholders must not allow to come through unless we want to entrench the gap between the rich and the poor in our society; but if we want to create an equitable society where university education will not just be for the rich but also for the poor then government must continue giving subventions to universities and even find ways of increasing the subventions.”
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He therefore urged the government to allocate more money for subventions and avoid putting unnecessary financial burden on the ordinary Ghanaian.
University education he explains is for public good and a social service hence there should not be the allocation of tax payer’s money to support this service.
Source: Vera Siripi/ATLFMNEWS
