November 18, 2025

President launches no-fee plan for students with disability

People with disabilities who gain admission to tertiary education institutions in Ghana will no longer pay fees under a new initiative that is intended to activate the national conscience and a sense of equity and justice, Ghana’s President John Mahama has said.

“This initiative envisions a Ghana where a visually impaired student becomes a software engineer. It envisages a Ghana where a young woman in a wheelchair earns her law degree and comes out to defend the voiceless,” Mahama said.

Speaking at a ceremony to launch the Free Tertiary Education for Persons with Disabilities initiative on 24 October, he said it “envisions a Ghana where a child with hearing impairments grows up to be a teacher, to heal, or even lead” the nation.

“This is the inclusive Ghana we dream of. A nation where opportunity, not disability, defines our destiny,” he said, adding that the programme was a “reminder that the soul of any nation is measured by how it treats its most vulnerable citizens”.

Under the programme, persons with disabilities who gain admission into accredited public tertiary institutions will have their fees fully covered by the state. The implementation of this initiative will be led by the Student Loan Trust Fund, which has been modernised and digitised to ensure transparency, efficiency, and sustainability.

Mahama said data from the 2021 Population and Housing Census show that there are more than two million Ghanaians living with a disability. “Behind this statistic, behind this figure, are real human stories. Stories of perseverance, of talent waiting to be nurtured, and of dreams that deserve to be fulfilled.”

National loss

He said people with disabilities faced barriers of poverty, stigma, and lack of access to education and livelihood opportunities.

“These are not just individual challenges. They represent a national loss. When we exclude, we waste talent. But when we include and empower, we multiply national progress.

“Our collective task, therefore, is to ensure that no Ghanaian is denied the chance to learn, to work, and to serve because of disability,” Mahama said.

Arguing that the country has not been idle in its efforts to support people with disabilities, Mahama said that, in 2006, under the administration of former president John Kufuor, the country’s parliament passed Act 715, the Persons with Disability Act. In 2012, during his previous term, Mahama’s government ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, aligning the country’s laws with global standards of equality and dignity.

“In 2015, we introduced the Inclusive Education Policy, which opened mainstream schools to learners with disability, and began the process of transforming our educational culture. Today, we are advancing that vision one bold step further,” he said, adding that the Free Tertiary Education for Persons with Disabilities initiative fulfils a pledge he made to the people of Ghana to make higher education accessible to all, regardless of fiscal condition or circumstances.

He said the government intends to distribute rechargeable motorised wheelchairs to people with disabilities, adding that all ministers of state have been directed to review their obligations under the disability act and present action plans for full compliance within the shortest possible time.

Mahama said the government will establish a disability health and resource centre in every district to provide specialised health assessments and build a credible national health database for people with disabilities for informed action.

In addition, the government is also to enforce a minimum 5% employment quota for people with disabilities. And this will be across public and private sectors. Private-sector organisations that meet the quota will be given tax incentives.

To ensure that this is properly implemented, he said, public departments, through their ministers, will report annually on their progress in meeting the quota. There are also plans to launch dedicated programmes for women with disabilities providing those eligible with entrepreneurship grants and leadership training.

Fee reimbursement for first-year students

Mahama said the government, in collaboration with the Ghana Catholic Secretariat, would use a US$30 million Chinese grant to establish a university in the Savannah Region which will be devoted to science and technology, robotics, artificial intelligence, digital science, as well as advanced medicine training. The university is expected to be aligned with the country’s policies on disability and inclusion.

Saajida Shiraz, acting CEO of the Students Loan Trust Fund, or SLTF, said the launch of the initiative is a testament to Mahama’s unwavering commitment to inclusivity and equity in education and marks a significant milestone in the government’s efforts to empower persons with disabilities through education.

Shiraz said the SLTF has facilitated academic fee reimbursement – an initiative introduced for the 2025-26 academic year to refund monies to students who have paid their academic fees in public universities – to 142,440 first-year students enrolled in public tertiary institutions as part of the national ‘No Fees Stress’ policy, which provides free tuition to first-year students in public tertiary institutions.

Shiraz added that, as part of the initiative, validated first-year students with disabilities have received reimbursement, not just for academic fees, but for their full fees, as promised.