Former President John Dramani Mahama has described the current financial constraint of the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) as worrisome, adding that the situation was negatively affecting education outcomes.
Mr. Mahama, who is also the flagbearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), was addressing the Second Graduation Ceremony of the Academic City University College (ACUC) in the Ga East Municipality in the Greater Accra Region last Saturday.
The former President said, as a catalyst for sustainable development, education must be tackled holistically to enable the country to derive maximum benefit. He added that, as much as access to education was important, it was equally vital for the quality to be enhanced to produce graduates who would be well equipped to meet the challenges of modern times.
The Chronicle agrees that there is the need to resource the GETFund in order for it to carry out its mandate of providing funds to supplement the provision of educational infrastructure at all levels.
The GETFund is supposed to sponsor a lot of the infrastructural projects in our educational institutions, from the basic to tertiary level. In addition to infrastructural development, the GETFund also provides funding to support the procurement of educational equipment and promotion of staff development and research, especially at the tertiary level.
The GETFund is the only hope for infrastructure financing in the education sector, and we must all be worried about the damage that the capping introduced by the government is doing.
Whilst most Ghanaians are clamouring for the GETFund to be resourced, the introduction of capping of the funds is to the detriment of the education sector. There has been a decline in the funding of education as a result of the capping of the Fund.
There have also been complains about the inability of the GETFund to support the Student Loan Trust Fund (SLTF), the Scholarship Secretariat, and lots of uncompleted GETFund projects, in terms of infrastructure from the basic schools to the tertiary level.
Just recently, the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) presented a petition to the Education Committee of Parliament to reject the 2023 proposed formula for the disbursement of the GETFund.
The student body said this had negatively affected the allocation of funds to the Student Loan Trust Fund and other educational agencies. NUGS contended that there had been a decline in the funding of education as a result of the capping of the GETFund.
It has been agreed by most stakeholders in education that the GETFund capping method obviously deviates from the GETFund Law 2020, (Act 581) and the Earmarked Funds Capping and Realignment Law 2017 (Act 947).
The GETFund was created by a statute — GETFund Act, 2000 (Act 581) – with the primary objective of providing funds to supplement the provision of educational infrastructure at all levels.
The GETFund plays a critical role in financing educational infrastructure and projects in Ghana. However, when the Fund is under-resourced, several negative effects can arise, impacting negatively on the education sector and hindering its progress. One of the significant consequences of not having adequate GETFund resources is the lack of proper infrastructure in schools. Insufficient funds means that educational institutions might struggle to maintain or build new classrooms, libraries, laboratories, and other essential facilities. This can lead to overcrowded classrooms, poor learning environments hinder the overall quality of education.
The resourcing of the GETFund is essential to promote a robust and inclusive education system in Ghana. By providing financial support for infrastructure development, scholarships, teacher training, research, and technology integration, the GETFund contributes significantly to the overall growth and progress of the country.
The Chronicle holds the view that the government must start listening to all the different voices on the need to revert the GETFund to its original status to fully operationalise according to its mandate.
