Ghana is to enjoy a ¢1.7 trillion expansion in educational facilities this year following a push to that effect by the Ghana Education Trust Fund. The Board of Trustees of the GETFund in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports gave them the approval for the amount to be released for the various projects to be undertaken in educational institutions in the country this year. It represents a 35 percent increase over the money approved for last year. The Administrator of the GETFund, Fosuba Mensah Banahene who made this known explained that 582 billion cedis would be spent on infrastructure and academic facilities in tertiary in the country. He said the rest of the money would go to basic and second cycle institutions as well as accredited private universities and agencies under the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports. He said the formula for the distribution of the money would follow laid down procedures in Act 581 which set up the GETFund. Mr Mensah-Banahene however said the board would have to wait until Parliament gave the approval before it could under take activities for the year. He said that with the approval it was expected that the country’s public universities and other educational institutions “will bring to completion all the projects they have embarked upon”. Mr Mensah-Banahene said the Students Loan Scheme being run by the Student’s Loan Trust had been taken care of this year, saying that “the Scholarship Secretariat will also be given a sufficient amount to enable it to provide for the Northern Scholarship Scheme”. As part of activities marking Ghana’s 50th anniversary, he said, the trustees in consultation with the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports had planned to among other things, build public libraries in all the regional capital. The projects, he said, would begin with Accra, Kumasi and Sekondi Takoradi this year. Mr Mensah Banahene stated that the Board of Trustees had approved funding for a three year programme being undertaken by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports to build classrooms for the about 2,000 schools which held classes under trees and in make shift buildings. Source: Daily Graphic