The Minority Ranking Member on Education Committee of Parliament and Member for the North Tongu Constituency has called on the government to stop what he calls “assaulting the GETfund”, since it is the only reliable source of funding education in Ghana now.

He indicated that the GETfund plays a strategic role in our education system, without which education will grind to a halt.

He further indicated that GETfund is what is being used to fund textbooks, infrastructure, teaching and learning materials and almost everything that matter currently.

Speaking in support of a motion for the adoption and approval of the Committee of the Whole’s report on the Proposed Formula For The Distribution Of The Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) For the Year 2018, the ranking Member revealed that, what is even more worrying is the fact that now GETFund has stopped playing the supplementary and complementary role, and rather assuming full funding for almost all educational financial responsibilities.

He revealed that when one takes a critical look at the Budget, one would realize that about 96% of the GETFund goes to emoluments and very little goes to capital expenditure.

Going into the Report that was laid, the Honorable Member indicated that, per the report, an amount of Gh¢790,224,149.00 was approved for the fund for the 2017 fiscal year by the House, with the amount being reduced to Gh¢644,265,000.00 by the Ministry of Finance after the Mid-year Budget Review, a development which according to the Minister adversely affected the implementation of planned projects and programs of the fund.

He further bemoaned the fact that there has been no allocation for the completion of uncompleted existing projects, but some amounts have however been allocated for new ones, which is a worrying trend since the free SHS needs infrastructure to be successful.

Story by Frederick E. Aggrey

 

Exclusively Newslinegh