He said this had become necessary due to the huge cost incurred by students in the private learning institutions.  Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Wednesday, Mr Okyere said private students appreciated government’s gesture of extending financial support to them.

He said, however, that the financial assistance was quite inadequate and pleaded with the government to consider increasing the allocation to enable them to meet their needs such as payment of utilities, high cost of fees, among others.

Mr Okyere cited extracts from the 2015 annual report of the students’ loan disbursement and statistics showed that 43 per cent of students in the public universities enjoyed the facility whilst only 11 per cent of the students in the private sector benefitted.

He suggested that government should increase the GETFund and the Students’ Loan Trust Fund allocations to enable the two institutions to address their concerns and urged government to work hard to reduce corruption and waste in the system.

He said all the 10 public universities were enjoying the students’ loan, but 35 out of the 70 private institutions were benefitting and that the inequality must be addressed, adding that private universities were providing immense service to the nation.