Participants at a consultative forum on the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) have called for the review of the GETFund Act (Act 581) to take into account the current dynamics in the nation's education system. In the short term, they said, a Legislative Instrument (LI) that would give effect to the law should be promulgated to guide institutional relationships, fund-raising and management, project implementation and spending priorities. The recommendation was made in view of the fact that over the last nine years, fund disbursement has suffered from disparities in resource allocation, undefined allocation formula, lack of focus and direction of spending, lack of prudence and frugality in spending and poor spending outcomes. Others were the disproportionate large allocation to the tertiary level that had undermined the policy of providing quality and accessible basic education, the unacceptable high number of schools under trees and the absence of appropriate LIs to empower the operations under the GETFund. Others included the issue of nonexistent projects, standardizing the infrastructure designs of schools and the artificial disjuncture between the government educational policies and fund disbursement, resulting in disparities and fiscal redress. Key issues that were identified in group presentations included over- reliance on limited funding sources like the Value Added Tax (VAT) and returns on investment, institutional rivalry between the Ministry of Education and the GETFund due to different interpretations of the provisions of pieces of legislations and policy instruments. Unlimited discretionary spending authority located outside the control of the fund management authority, making the fund the payment centre for projects, and the inability to pay contractors on schedule, which leads to delays in project implementation, were also identified as problems in the past nine years. It came to light that there were 50 non-existent projects allegedly awarded throughout the country and the GETFund was indebted to the tune of GH¢166, 341,979. These projects included Brong-Ahafo Region (15), Eastern Region (2), Northern Region (21), Upper West Region (3) and the Volta Region (8) which were under the pre-tertiary project status. javascript:openNewWindow('pix.asp',%20'PhotoGallery','900','800'); The GETFund however awarded a total of 3,389 projects between 2001 and 2009 with 1,869 completed, 1,126 ongoing, 286 abandoned, 157 not started and 50 non-existing ones at a total cost of GH¢ 1,075,575,880.12. The Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Mr Paul Victor Obeng, stressed the need for a prudential policy to guide the management of the people's fund, adding that fund managers had erred in the disbursement of the fund. He called for best practices in fund management and that there should be incentives for institutions to contribute to the GETFund aside of VAT sources because demand for projects will grow uncontrollably with unnecessary appetite for GETFund. Mr Obeng called for a face lift and re-branding of the Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) and regretted that lip-service to that sector over the years had resulted in the use of "prehistoric" equipment available even at the engineering departments of universities in the 21 st century. A staffer at the office of the President, who chaired the plenary session, Mrs Christine Amoako-Nuamah, commended participants for their inputs adding that it would inform policy evolution to redefine necessary support to various departments and agencies. The Minister of Education, Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo, said the forum was timely and was the best opportunity for clearing all ambiguities relating to the fund. The GETFund Administrator, Mr Sam Garbah, expressed relief that following the review workshop, a disbursement formula could now be formulated to guide the use of funds more judiciously and to avoid waste in the future. Source: Daily Graphic