Minister of Education Iddrisu has announced plans by the government to expand the students’ loan scheme to all deserving students in the country, public or private.
The minister announced this when he inaugurated a 13-member Governing Council of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), chaired by Professor Mahama Dwiejua, in Accra last Friday.
He stated that the government was conducting an assessment, and when that is done, the students’ loan scheme. Would expand to include students from private schools.
“We are doing a fiscal assessment of it, and as and when that is completed, we’ll take a decision on it and expand it to all deserving students.
“After all, it is a loan. It is to be paid back. What is important is to manage it well and increase the threshold, and then the students can carry some burdens if that was done,” he noted.
The minister also announced plans by the government to establish a technical vocational education fund just like the one in Germany, “so that if we can start even next year, in 2027, we could build one vocational institute of excellence in every region of Ghana, with dedicated funding from the TVET Fund.
“So, this year, the TVET Fund has made a minimum allocation to indicate donors and others in the private sector to support this well-meaning step,” the minister announced.
Members of The Council
The members of the council include a representative of Vice Chancellors Ghana, Rev. Prof. John Frank Eshun; a representative of the private universities, Prof. Fred Mcbangonluri; a representative of the Ministry of Education, Mamle D. Andrews; a representative of the Ministry of Finance, Samuel Danquah Arkhurst; and a representative of the Attorney General Department, Stella Otema Badu.
Others are the Director-General of the National Development Planning Commission, Dr Isaac Nii Moi Thompson; a representative of the Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and Training, Zakaria Sulemana; and the Director-General of GTEC, Prof. Ahmed Jinapor Abdulai.
The rest are the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Prof. Ernest Davis; the Director-General of the Technical and Vocational Education Training Service, Dr Eric Kofi Adzroe, with Dr Berlinda Glover-Dake and Prof. Emmanuel Kancheba Derbile as members.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
