The government needs $2.5 billion between 2025 and 2028 to remove the huge infrastructure deficit in the educational sector, the Minister of Education and MP for Tamale South, Haruna Iddrisu, has said.
Haruna Iddrisu was responding to concerns raised by members of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) during its meeting in Sunyani last Wednesday. The previous government failed to expand the facilities during the implementation of the Free SHS programme to deal with the expected increases in enrolment, he explained.
Mr Iddrisu said the government had planned to expand infrastructure to end the double-track system by 2027 since the system was not desirable for academic work. He also said, this year alone, the government would be required to dedicate GH¢6.5 billion to finance the Free SHS policy.
The MP urged the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) to identify some CHASS schools with infrastructure deficits to invest in the improvement of the projects in schools. “We expect that you should have a dedicated formula that looks into expanded accommodations and classrooms for several CHASS schools to increase their intake”.
He challenged CHASS and the public to continue to search for answers to the sustainable finance of the Free SHS programme. Mr Iddrisu said the GETFund was one of the immediate Free SHS funding alternatives available to the government. He, therefore, urged the GETFund to find innovative ways of procuring furniture and textbooks for schools across the country.
