Various stakeholders in the education sector have called upon the government to eliminate the cap placed on allocations to the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund).
Additionally, they advocated for a comprehensive review of the Fund, with a focus on specific areas of educational support, particularly infrastructure provision, instead of the current general support structure.
The plea was made during an open forum on higher education centered around the theme “Making the GETFund Fit for Purpose,” which was organized by the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS) as part of its project on “Motivating Higher Education Reforms in Ghana – Towards Equity and Sustainability.”
This forum provided a platform for open discussions regarding the financial challenges faced by the higher education sector.
The Vice Chancellor of the University of Professional Studies – Accra (UPSA), Professor Abednego Feehi Okoe Amartey, highlighted the impact of the Earmarked Funds Capping and Realignment Act 2017, Act 947, on the resource allocation of the Fund.
“The current 2.5 per cent VAT allocated to the Fund should be reviewed upwards, given the increasing student enrolment numbers in public tertiary institutions as well as the number of projects undertaken across the various university campuses,” he added.
Professor Amartey emphasized the need for the GETFund to prioritize higher education institutions over the pre-tertiary sector, considering the current allocation of 12 percent to the latter as insufficient. He called for a collaborative effort involving multiple stakeholders to address financial challenges and identify sustainable sources of income to bolster the Fund.
Dennis Asare, a Senior Research Associate at the Imani Centre for Policy and Education, suggested that the GETFund should explore innovative methods of raising funds to support its activities.
“There is a need to improve their efficiency and encourage public-private partnerships to drive more support from the private sector,” he added.
The Ghana Education Trust Fund was created in 2000 through the Ghana Education Trust Fund Act, 2000, Act 581. Its primary purpose is to offer supplementary funding to enhance government budgetary allocations at all educational levels.