The Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Students Loan Trust Fund (SLTF), Dr Saajida Shiraz, has urged the government to prioritise education funding, citing recent improvements in Ghana’s economic outlook as an opportunity to invest more significantly in the country's youth.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Monday, May 26, Dr Shiraz praised the early economic performance of the new National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration, particularly its success in stabilising the Ghanaian cedi.

She argued that these fiscal gains could and should translate into meaningful increases in education spending.

“We’ve seen the magic the government has worked in the first few months of the new NDC administration,” she said.

She added, “If we can bring the cedi down from 16 to 12 or even 11, I trust that there are savings that can be made to fund education.”

Dr Shiraz emphasised that education must be treated as a central pillar of national development and not merely a budgetary afterthought.

“Education should be one of the topmost priorities of every government,” she stressed. “If we are to prioritise and centre the education of our youth, we should be able to find the money.”

The Students Loan Trust Fund provides financial assistance to Ghanaian students pursuing tertiary education and is partly funded by government allocations from the GETFund and the Communication Service Tax, as well as loan repayments.