KNUST charges ¢120 as admission interview fee after purchasing an application E-voucher for ¢250

"Dear Mr. X, You are kindly invited to attend an interview on Sun, 12th Dec 2021 from 9 am at CTM Dept., KNUST. Please bring along your original certificates for verification and a fee of ¢120. Thank you"

The above message was sent to all successful postgraduate applicants from the Construction Technology and Management Department of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).

And according to a poor applicant, he was refused an interview because he couldn't pay the ¢120 and he couldn't tell his education sponsors to pay for interview fee as well.

So the poor folks who have had their education on the benevolence of sponsorships and scholarships, yet have no jobs after first degree, and who have managed to secure yet another sponsorship for postgraduate education, will be robbed of education because they couldn't afford to pay to be interviewed? Is that what it is in a country where the government is concerned about education for all, all including children from poor backgrounds?

While many universities abroad are waiving application fees and test scores (TOEFL, GRE, IELTS, etc) due to the financial hardships associated with the pandemic, our local universities, the Giants of them such as KNUST, are busily finding ways and means to squeeze out monies from their poor applicants. Coming from an academic institution, I consider this a big shame!

KNUST of all schools should have known better. The institution is bigger than this kalabuley act! What happened to the millions gathered from the sales of application e-vouchers? Couldn't some amount from that be earmarked for interviews? The guy who called from CTM-KNUST said the ghc120 is to print papers and buy water for the interview panel. What! KNUST this is a shame, we all must admit. Where on mother earth do you have to pay to be interviewed? Not to mention that it is for admission purposes when you have been duly charged a usurious application fee.

In Ghana, it has almost become a tradition for schools to utilize all means to extort money from students and applicants. It is as though when you get admission to an institution, you automatically become a 'mugu'. The school can ask you to pay any monies at any time, and your 'mumu' self will have to pay without questions. You dare not. But how long are people going to miss out on opportunities to school when they cannot afford to pay? How long are we going to remain silent over some of these unfair treatments?

Such corrupt acts sully the reputation of the Ghanaian academia in general. How can the government or industry involve academia in researching and designing solutions when academia has declared themselves bullies and, for lack of a better word, thieves.