Press Secretary for the National Union of Ghana Students, Emmanuel Yaw Gyimah has disclosed that there has been engagement with the parliament on uncapping of the GETfund for educational purposes.
This was in reference to the placard-holding protest that the Union held in front of the Parliament of Ghana on 16th March, 2023 along with Civil Society Organizations led by the Africa Education Watch and the continental student’s body, the All Africa Students Union.
The protest was aimed at getting parliament to uncap GETfund to make funds available for education.
Speaking to UniversNews, Emmanuel Yaw Gyimah revealed that a petition was submitted to parliament. According to him, parliament assured the union that there will be steps taken to address the issue. He expressed hope that parliament would take heed of their protest.
“Yesterday we submitted a petition to the parliament, through the parliamentary committee on education. We are hopeful to hear from them….they gave us their remarks, they have assured us to take steps to [fix] the wrongs that have been done over the years, so that education can have a proper footing in Ghana.”
Yaw Gyimah further explained that the GETfund should be geared solely towards education needs. He called on the government to allocate 100% of the GETfund levy to education, in contrast to the 39% allocation that has been give this year. He explained that by doing so, the government would be able to solve most of the challenges faced by the education sector in Ghana effectively.
“This fund was a fund that was brought to help foster proper education in Ghana. Every year, there is this fund that is being allocated for education. But from 2017, there was a capping of the funds that goes to GETfund, and so other parts of the fund were used into other fields. But then as time flies by, we have realized that government keeps capping it more; this year alone, we are going at 39% [allocation], which is affecting the growth of education. And so, as leaders, we have put together a petition to parliament to get them to understand that we are not happy with the capping of the fund. So they should uncap it so that issues that surround education progress in Ghana may be curbed.”