President-elect John Dramani Mahama has sounded the alarm on the financial crisis engulfing Ghana’s education system, urging immediate collective action to secure sustainable funding for basic, secondary, and tertiary institutions.
During an engagement with education stakeholders, Mahama painted a stark picture of the current state of the sector. He highlighted the lack of dedicated funding as a major stumbling block, leaving schools at all levels grappling with severe financial constraints.
“At the last count, 1.3 million Ghanaian children at the basic level do not have basic furniture to sit and study. This underscores the depth of the crisis at the foundational level,” Mahama stated.
Despite significant allocations to the secondary level through the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) policy, Mahama raised concerns about inefficiencies and wastage in how funds are being utilized. “A lot of money is going to the secondary level, but it is not from a dedicated fund, and the spending lacks efficiency,” he explained.
The challenges extend to tertiary education, where funding shortages are exacerbated by the over-commitment of the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund). Mahama revealed that 60% of GETFund resources have already been collateralized, leaving only 40% to address infrastructure needs across the entire education system.
“This is a crisis, and that is why I proposed a National Education Review Conference to address these bottlenecks comprehensively,” Mahama emphasized. He called for a consultative forum involving all relevant stakeholders to develop a sustainable funding model capable of meeting both immediate and long-term needs.
Mahama’s call for action reflects growing concerns about the sustainability of Ghana’s educational reforms and infrastructure. As the president-elect prepares to take office, his proposal for a National Education Review Conference signals his intent to prioritize education and foster collaboration in addressing its financial woes.
