Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia on Wednesday, April 3, cut the sod for the construction of a 200-bed capacity hostel for the Trinity Theological Seminary in Accra.

The four-storey multi-purpose hostel would be completed within 14 months, with funding from the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund).

The project is being implemented in partnership with the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) and the Office of the Vice President.

The sod-cutting ceremony was in fulfillment of a promise the Vice President made to the school two years ago during its 76th congregation.

Dr Bawumia said the hostel facility would provide a conducive accommodation for pastor trainees to study and impart moral values to society.

“As an institution that trains and instills Godly values, the construction of this hostel will not only provide the much-needed accommodation for students, it will also serve as a hub for more learning and growth,” he said.

Dr Bawumia said he wanted to see a Ghana where emphasis was placed on values and doing the right things, with the human factor playing its appropriate role in curbing, among other vices, corruption, bribery, crime, dishonesty and indiscipline.

With that in mind, he would usher in a golden age of collaboration and partnership between government, faith-based organisations, and the church and “incentivise our faith-based organisations”.

“And I believe that if we give them incentives, just as we give our external development partners, we will see a lot more coming from them and we will legislate those incentives in the context of the proposed charities bill.”

The Vice-President said: “When I look at the role of the Church and faith-based organisations you will see that in various areas, especially education and health, the Church has been very remarkable.”

He urged the stakeholders to look forward with optimism to the day when the hostel would stand tall as a testament to their collective vision and determination, which would address the accommodation deficit and serve as a hub for more learning and growth.

Dr Richard Ampofo Boadu, the Administrator, GETFund, said financing of education within Ghana’s tertiary sub sector was a complex and multi-faceted challenge that required collective action and commitment.

He, thus, encouraged tertiary institutions both public and private to explore innovative financing mechanisms to mobilise additional resources for tertiary education.

The Director- General of GTEC, Professor Ahmed Jinapor Abdulai, in a speech read on his behalf, said expanding access to tertiary education had been a critical component of the Commission’s plan.

“We have prioritised these endeavours with the aim of achieving a gross tertiary enrollment ratio of 40 per cent by the year 2030.”

That ambitious goal, he explained, aligned not only with the national aspirations of GTEC but also the continental and international benchmark set forth in agenda 2063 of the African Union and the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Very Rev. Prof J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, the President of the Trinity Theological Seminary, in his welcome remarks, commended the Vice President, GTEC and the GETFund for the initiative.

He said it would help to minimise the housing deficit of the Seminary and inspire it to improve its services.

The facility would cement the relationship between the Seminary and the Government, he said.