Former President John Dramani Mahama has observed that the Ghana Education Trust (GET) Fund has suffered severe financial setbacks in recent times.
In the future, he said, stakeholders will work together to make the GETFund work for students and institutions needing financial assistance in private and public schools.
The flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) said these win a speech he delivered at the Academic City University College over the weekend.
He told the graduating students that “Globally, economists and governance experts have long acknowledged that development does not start with goods; it starts with human capital development. Hence, without education, or quality education, our natural resources – land, sea, minerals, forests etc. – will lie dormant and unexploited. Even if exploited, the environmental and socio-economic implications will be dire for our nation’s progress.
“For education to achieve its purpose of churning out resourceful and skilled human resources who meet the needs of societies, it must be of optimal quality. A focus on expanding access to education without attendant improvement in quality renders education insufficient in churning out the well-equipped human resource society needs.
“And because education is also a leveller, poor quality education tends to widen the gap between our country’s rich and poor.”
He added “To secure quality education at all levels and address inequalities, the Social Democratic tradition of my party, the NDC, has prioritised investment in education over the years. This quality-indexed spirit motivated the NDC to establish the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) as a financial supplement to the traditional sources of financing education.
“Regrettably, GETFund has suffered severe financial setbacks in recent times. In the future, we can work together to make the GETFund work for students and institutions needing financial assistance in private and public schools.
“Let’s also remember that the 21st Century thrives on the digital revolution in which innovation and originality propel progress. To succeed in this era, our educational system must evolve to equip the next generation with critical thinking skills, creativity, and innovation to solve problems.
“This is why the National Democratic Congress, in our quest to build the Ghana we want, is seeking to partner with the private sector to invest three billion dollars (US$3 billion) in an integrated ICT infrastructure, including onshore and offshore fibre super-highway and electronic applications.
“The investment will leverage 5G technology to propel communication, commerce, civil liberties, and individual expressions; while supporting other national priorities in health, education, agriculture, petroleum, and the power sectors.
“This initiative will also make governance effective, transparent, and accessible, improve the quality-of-service delivery to Ghanaians, modernise industry and outdated legacy platforms and IT systems, improve network security and create thousands of decent and sustainable jobs in the value chain.”