Management of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has rescinded their decision to enforce the Student Credit and Debt Management Policy.
KNUST students who risk losing out over nonpayment of fees have been given more time.
The enforcement of the policy on Wednesday, April 20, left over 6,000 students on the brink of deferring programmes.
However, calls from stakeholders of the institution including the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum have left authorities with no option than to give defaulting students reprieve.
“We are a human institution and we have been listening to the plea of many stakeholders,” said the University Relations Officer (URO) Dr Daniel Norris Bekoe.
Affected students have been given the opportunity to pay 70 percent of the debt and re-register for their course to be able to sit the end-of-semester examinations.
“If a student pays up, management is ready to look at it. So, those who have paid the 70 percent have gone ahead to register their courses. Definitely, we are not interested in getting students out of the university but we have bills to pay,” Dr Bekoe stated.
He said the reaction by the public is not fair to the university as running costs are suffocating it and the fees are needed to settle some of the bills.
Meanwhile, more students continue to pay up their fees 24 hours after the warning was issued.
“I’m happy to report to you that from [Wednesday], out of the affected number of students, as of [Thursday] morning, over 400 of those people have run to go and pay.
“So where did the money come from all of a sudden? It is the usual Ghanaian attitude.”
By Vincent Kubi