The Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) has initiated a total of 11, 248 projects since it was established in 2001, a feat which has aided in transforming education delivery in the country, the Administrator of the Fund, Dr Richard Ampofo Boadu, has disclosed.
He said out the figure, over 7,000 had been fully completed and were in use across all levels of education delivery in the country, with the remaining 4,000 and over at various stages of completion.
A breakdown of the projects, he said included 6,272 building infrastructure at the basic education level, 3,863 secondary school improvement projects, 101 community senior high schools, nine model schools and the four Technical Vocational and Education Training (TVET) centres all at the secondary levels, and 999 projects at the tertiary education level.
Dr Boadu disclosed this during his presentation at this year’s GETFund Stakeholders Forum held at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) at Madina over the weekend.
This year’s forum was on the theme: “Supporting the delivery of quality education in Ghana” and the event highlighted the achievements and execution of GETFund’s flagship projects.
It was attended by management members led by Board Chairman, Professor Dominic Fobih, with university lecturers, heads of schools, and students from across the country.
Dr Boadu said the Fund under this current government had completed a total of 3,077 projects across the country since 2017.
The projects included 1,832 legacy projects made up of a number of E-Blocks, and 1, 245 new structures.
Touching on scholarships, he said the awards of local scholarships by the Fund increased from 1,680 students in the 2019/20 academic year to 5,026 students in the 2023/24 academic year.
Furthermore, that of foreign student scholarship more than doubled, increasing from 104 in the 2017/18 academic year to 353 students in the 2019/20 academic.
The leap in the figures over the last period he said was due to a number of reforms including digitalisation of their operations to ensure greater efficiency in the management of the Fund’s diverse portfolios.
Dr Boadu explained that even though awards of scholarships constituted less than five per cent of the Funds’ portfolios, it was one area that often aroused the interest of both students and the general public.
He said the Fund had for more than 15 years, supported scholars pursuing higher education at both local and foreign institutions in line with its mandate to enhance the quality of education in the country.
Throughout its operation, the fund has sponsored more than 16,000 scholars at both local and foreign educational institutions, he emphasised.
In addition to awards of scholarships, the administrator said a total of 2,749 infrastructure projects had been initiated by the fund between 2017 and the end of September 2024.
These projects he said were 1,501 school infrastructure at the basic education level, 1,174 including nine model schools and four Technical Vocational and Educational Training (TVET) centres and 74 at the tertiary levels.
Furthermore he said a total of 2,718 vehicles had also been procured and distributed to various agents and institutions under the Ministry of Education.
On scholarships, Dr Boadu said his outfit was providing more scholarships to university students in the country than those in schools outside the country.
In line with that, 5,026 scholarships were offered to local students, as against 224 to citizens studying outside the country.
In an address read on his behalf, the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum said GETFund had been instrumental in upgrading of a number of schools across the country.
He said the fund had positively impacted the quality of education delivery, ensuring that every child had access to education in a conducive learning environment.
“At the Ministry of Education, our main purpose is to ensure that quality education is given to every child within the country. This is all geared towards ensuring that the human capital of this country is secured for national development,” he added.
BY CLIFF EKUFUL