Constraints

Despite the obvious successes the scheme has chalked, the study also found that it is saddled with a number of challenges. As both Table 6 and Figure 6 indicate, a high number of students offered admissions under the scheme are unable to avail themselves of the opportunity to pursue university education. At KNUST, only 47% of students admitted during the period 2007/08-2013/14 academic year was able to enrol which comprises 41% females and 51% males. The 2011/12 academic year was the lowest enrolment year with 18% females and 28% males. The 2007/08 academic year recorded the highest female enrolment of 56%. The male category had its highest in 2008/09 with an enrolment of 68%. The overall enrolment rate at UG was 58% for the five-year period with the highest of 63% recorded in the 2013/14 academic year. Although the overall enrolment in UG appears to be higher in percentage terms, doing a headcount pales the figures from UG into insignificance when compared with that of KNUST as Table 6 and Figure 6 show.

Although it is extremely difficult to determine why a student will not take up an offer of admission, there are still a number of pointers to explain the problem of low enrolment.

The issue, may partly be attributable to aspirational, motivational and informational gap.

As the case of KNUST typifies, a good number of such students may not have even conceived the idea of pursuing university education, neither would their institutions make them aware of such an intervention from KNUST. KNUST then springs a surprise on them with admission letters, further requesting that they pay the fees upfront within a limited time or they lose the admission. The case of GP2 amply validates this argument:

Actually, where I'm coming from is less-endowed so when I completed SHS, I bought polytechnic, that's C[Cape Coast]-Poly so I had the admission. So one week I was going to pay my fees and I had a call from the school [former SHS] that I have received some letter so I should go there for the letter, and when I went there it was KNUST; that they are helping some less-endowed schools so I have been admitted there so I have to come for the letter, and week time I have to pay the fees. If I don't pay the fees within one-week time, the scholarship [admission] they will take it away.

So GP2 who had never planned to go to the university suddenly got an offer ‘out of the blue’ and had just one week to pay the fees up or risked a forfeiture of the offer. This may, in fact, be the story of a host of others who may even want to accept the pleasant surprise, but may be held back for obvious reasons.

Allied to this possible cause, is the issue that the less-endowed admissions do not come with scholarships and any other financial aid as the government has not earmarked any

141 funding to support the initiative. The majority of this category of students also come from the rural areas where poverty is rife. Some of these students do not even have money to purchase admission forms as was the case of GP2 and SP2. HOP3 alluded to the funding conundrum adding that KNUST had decided to allocate 30 MasterCard Foundation scholarships it had secured for needy but brilliant students to those admitted through the less-endowed admission initiative;

…I must say that as we speak to you now, the University has won some form of scholarship for students with that background [less-endowed]—MasterCard Foundation scholarship. And in fact it is for brilliant but needy students but when it came in we realised that it will be a very good thing for people from that background, so they are the first batch of people we have who are benefitting this year…. The issue is that even the MasterCard Foundation I'm talking about; this is the first year they are starting;

they can give scholarships to a maximum of about 30 students. (HOP3)

So with the 1,507 admissions offered, the funding can only cover up to a maximum of 30 students. The University also gave those who were offered admission in 2013/2014 but could not take up the offer the opportunity to enrol in 2014/15, since the institution did not admit candidates who wrote the WASSCE in 2014 due to the fact that their results were not released in a good time:

…You realise that this year we did not wait for people who are writing exams this year;

2014 results. We are not taking them, they will wait and come to school next year. But we realised last year those we admitted [less-endowed] were unable to come, some of them were unable to come so we gave them the option that if you are still available you can come to school, so the majority of them are coming in this year. (ibid)

At UG HOP2 also indicated the UG does not receive any funding from the central government in support of its affirmative action initiatives. GOP3 indeed confirmed that universities do not receive funding for those interventions:

…With the funding policies of government now, I mean, it's really difficult to get funds to do some of these things… it's a real, tough issue because all those things need to be funded somehow by some means and if it's not through student fees, if it's not through government support then I don't know; one can only rely on donations and things, and our environment hasn't caught up with donations for such purposes. (HOP2)

There is nothing. Let me tell you our funding is not linked to policy; our funding is what do we call it? line-item. The institutions bring their things in line-items and then we try to meet it. That's all! (GOP3)

HOP2 also argued that access alone is not enough for this group of students and that more needs to be done to ensure equity, their survival and success:

I presume that for access to be effective you also have to make sure that once the person is admitted it is possible for the person to progress…. So apart from a system that ensures entry, one has to also have a system that allows such people to operate within the system to be given equal opportunity to do well. (ibid)

142 At the micro level, SP10 from a very poor family and one of the poorest regions in Ghana, shared with me his financial struggles. To my question, at what point he felt the negative impact of the financial situation the most, he replied:

That was when I had the admission to the university here. It was seriously difficult but the way I was performing, my head of institution [former SHS] saw that I was someone in future who can help the economy so he thought it wise; he contributed his quota to my financial this thing. I was also putting something down [saving] small, because I know that definitely what I have done will yield good results. So I was also putting down something small, you know from that place [Upper West] to this place, the cost of living is very high and the school fees was also high, accommodation was all over, despite they had the (?) it was still difficult for me. Then I came to the school; school [university]

authorities I informed them about some of the challenges. (SP10, male, Economics)

I then asked if his correspondence with the university authorities on his financial situation had yielded any positive results, to which he added:

Not really. It's this year that we applied for some kind of this thing [funding] but I was told that those of us who were able to come, it means we are not part. Like, they gave some scholarships for less-endowed schools, we all applied for it but we were told it's for those who are still in the house who were not able to come; have you seen? (ibid)

Apparently, SP10 was hoping to secure one of the 30 MasterCard Foundation scholarships HOP3 made reference to, but as a second-year student he could not qualify since the facility, according to HOP3, had been reserved for the new entrants. His case reflects HOP2’s comment that access alone is not enough for this category of students.

This is how SP10 received the news that he could not be considered for the scholarship:

The news I had I was sad because I was putting my hope on it, knowing very well that I will be considered. So when the interview time came and I didn't get any call, I had to find out myself. I called and found out, they told/ my faculty they supported me with some GHC 100 [US$ 30] just to cater for part of my school fees this academic year, and the other SRC I'm still hearing that the provisional list is out, of which I have gone through and my name wasn't there, and they are saying that the final list will be out by the close of this week which I'm still hoping to see whether my name will be part. (SP10, male, Economics)

So it appears the prospect of also securing funding from the SRC is equally bleak. At the time of the interview, SP10’s institution had just opened for the 2014/2015 academic year and he had still not paid his fees which should be done before the student is registered for the academic year, otherwise the individual loses their studentship unless the institution decides to tinker justice with mercy and allow some part payment. For the 2014/2015 academic year, SP10 is required to pay an academic facility user fee (AFUF) amounting to GHC 695.43 (US$196) and if he resides in the University’s own residential facility, an additional payment of GHC 580.00 (US$163)⁶⁹ upfront is required or even

69 https://www.knust.edu.gh/admissions/fees/ug-fees-continuing 10 March, 2015

143 higher, in the case of private accommodation. Having secured only a support of GHC 100, he faces an uphill task paying the fees in addition to other indirect expenses such as food, clothing and books. This is a student who is excelling and by virtue of that has been able to change the programme assigned to him, to one of choice but who risks dropping out for financial reasons if not resilient.

Although GP2 has graduated, his case was no different from that of SP10. He recounts the deprivation he suffered during his studies:

…I was in one of the halls here so I have to go the house every weekend to collect money. At times you can't go, when you call the house there is no money so you have to stay in your room without food. So I was feeling it but in all I said ‘No, I have to learn’. Even if you are learning you feel that you are hungry but you don't have the money. So I felt the impact more in the university than all the other institutions. (GP2, male, Economics Graduate)

The financial difficulties those from the less-endowed category grapple with is not entirely a male affair, GP1 also did not hide her financial plight while studying for the first degree:

…University too was challenging…it got to a point that, like, let me just force myself [laughs]. With just four cedis [US$1.2] on me, it's challenging and like calling home, you know Daddy is not working and all, and they too they are even struggling to eat and all. So at times I just/ but always I had food on me. For that one ‘deɛ’ my Mummy always does well. Like when I'm coming to school, I get a lot of food so I cook always, and I think that helped but with money, I wasn't always getting money. (GP1, female, Publishing Studies Graduate)

Apart from the financial constraints impacting the implementation of the affirmative action for less-endowed SHS, HOP3 also mentioned the uncooperative attitude of some of the heads of the SHS as a challenge the University is battling with, detailing the steps that are being taken to remedy the situation:

Well, the less-endowed the major constraint was what I was saying that, one, you write to them [school heads] for them to furnish you with the names, it will delay; some of them will delay some of them will never come. Two, when we admit them, you see like I'm saying, here am I sitting down here there is somebody coming from [name withheld]

secondary school, I go to WAEC to get the person's result, I don't know the person. So when we admit them, we don't post the letters to them because we don't want impersonation. So what we say is that the heads of the schools should come and pick the letters for them. You will be amazed that some of them will not come and pick it, some of them will put impediments on the way of the students. They ask the students to give them money to go and collect it. In fact, that is even what made me even go for the results from WAEC. Some of them they ask the students to pay them before they will submit the names to us; they are some of the impediments we have when it comes to this. (HOP3)

144 GP1 recalls feeling intimidated being in the company of students who attended the elite SHS as one of the experiences she had settling in on campus;

…I came from a less-endowed school so when I came I met people from Holy Child, Prempeh, Wesley Girls and all that in my school [department]. Then we started with academic work. At times it becomes intimidating meeting this people, because first impression, if you don't take care you wouldn't talk in class… (GP1, female, Publishing Studies Graduate)

Her comments prompted me to ask if she ever felt inferior being in the company of students from the elite schools. She replied:

Oh yes, for like two months I was really thinking about it whether I was the one on this campus or not. At times it becomes someway, because before the lecturer starts talking people are already making contribution and all that…So you will be there in class and people will be making contribution here and there and you will be there, but I think at end of it all too, God showed himself great [laughs]. (ibid)

After my interview with SP10, he alleged in the post-interview conversation, off-record that he is facing some stigmatisation from some students and academic staff. According to him some lecturers will go to class and ask all the students admitted on the less-endowed initiative to stand up, and he felt bad on such occasions.

Both SP10 and GP2 who have had the opportunity to access HE because of the affirmative action for less-endowed, make recommendations ranging from fine-tuning the implementation of the initiative, to a more transformative solution to the phenomenon of social stratification in Ghana’s HE:

To me, I will recommend that the government and the institution in charge of social issues should really do their homework well to make sure that they serve those who are able to make it. They should be able to; they should try as much as they can to reach the rural areas, to wherever human expectations are needed so that they can bring out some of the challenges they are going through. (SP10, male, Economics)

As we already said, the universities should increase the quota for the admission of less-endowed schools into the tertiary institutions. Another recommendation is that the government must focus more on the less-endowed schools, improve the facilities level and maybe give some motivation to the teachers in the rural areas who are teaching the students. That will also help the students to compete on the same basis with those in the higher [schools?]. (GP2, male, Economics Graduate)

In essence, the findings from this study on affirmative action confirm the notion that admirable as the policy is, it fails to tackle the problem of exclusion in HE from its roots.

Transformative remedies are therefore required to deal with the problem (see Fraser, 1995; Darity et al., 2011, Weisskopf, 2007; Moses, 2010). As the case of the affirmative action for females illustrates, it creates unfair processes and reverse discrimination (World Bank, 2006; D’Souza, 1991; Glaser, 1988) in addition to stigmatisation and other attendant problems (Crosby et al., 2006; Fraser, 1995). The evidence from the study

145 further point to the fact a comprehensive and multi-sectorial approach is required to deal with the greater social inequality in society, the symptoms of which are manifest at the HE level.

6.4 Distributive Justice

Under this theme, the participants responded to two questions: Whether or not they support setting aside admission quotas for groups that are under-represented in the universities such as students from the less-endowed upper secondary schools and those from the northern regions of Ghana. The second question also sought the views of participants on treating the upper secondary schools in Ghana differently (using different admission criteria) with respect to university admissions, by virtue of the resource gap between the elite schools and the less-endowed ones.