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The Minister of Finance, Cassiel Ato Forson, has revealed significant policy changes designed to enhance education funding in Ghana.
A key aspect of this is the removal of limits on the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) to fully finance the Free Senior High School (SHS) initiative and free tertiary education for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs).
While presenting the government’s Budget Statement and Economic Policy for 2025 to Parliament on Tuesday, 11 March, Forson disclosed that a total of GHC499.8 million has been designated to execute a No-Academic-Fee policy for all incoming students in public tertiary institutions as part of the ‘No-Fees-Stress’ initiative.
This program aims to alleviate the financial strain on students and their families during the shift to higher education.
“By uncapping the GETFund, we will be making available an additional GH¢4.1 billion to specifically finance the Free SHS programme and other related expenditures,” he said.
The budget for the Free SHS program in 2025 is set at GHC3.5 billion, with extra support from the GETFund providing complete funding.
To enhance education financing, the government has taken on the debt service—comprising interest and principal—related to the Daakye bond obtained by GETFund.
The budget designates GH¢564.6 million for supplying free textbooks based on the curriculum for students across different levels.
This includes “four sets of KG books and workbooks for about 2.8 million learners, four sets of primary textbooks for 800,000 learners, and nine sets of JHS 3 textbooks for 540,000 learners.”
NKONKONSA.com
