Wealthy Parents Shouldn’t Benefit from ‘No Fees Stress’ – Wonder Victor Kutor

Akosombo: Wonder Victor Kutor, the Board Chairman of VRA International Schools Ltd, has urged a reconsideration of the government's "No Fees Stress" policy, suggesting that affluent parents who can afford luxury vehicles and expensive gifts for their children after Senior High School should not receive state-funded tertiary education support. According to Ghana Web, Kutor argues that the policy should be focused on financially disadvantaged students to ensure efficient use of limited public resources. Speaking at the graduation ceremony of the Class of 2026 at Akosombo International School, Kutor, also a National Executive Committee member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), emphasized that parents who openly display wealth cannot reasonably claim they are unable to fund their children's higher education. He clarified that while he supports the principle behind the "No Fees Stress" policy, which aims to alleviate the financial burden on parents, its implementation needs a review to ensure that assist ance is provided to those in genuine need. Kutor, known for personally supporting underprivileged students with educational materials and logistical assistance, stressed that he has no objection to the policy itself. However, he believes that some parents have shown through their extravagant spending that they can afford to pay their children's university fees. His comments come in the wake of widespread displays of expensive graduation gifts, including luxury vehicles, given to students after completing Senior High School. In some cases, parents reportedly purchased vehicles valued at over US$500,000 for their children. These lavish celebrations, widely shared on social media, prompted the Ghana Education Service (GES) to ban the practice. The "No Fees Stress" policy is already in effect, benefiting first-year students in public tertiary institutions. For the 2025/2026 academic year, the government allocated GHS537 million to support 159,750 first-year students. In the previous academic year, it spent GHS3 99 million on approximately 152,000 students, totaling over GHS936 million over two years. Kutor maintained that parents capable of purchasing luxury vehicles worth hundreds of thousands of dollars for their children should also be able to fund their tertiary education. He thus called on the Ministry of Education, the Ghana Education Service, and the Students Loan Trust Fund, the implementing agency, to review the policy to better target students from less privileged and financially challenged backgrounds.