Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund)

Mr. Sam Garba GETFund Administrator

WHAT IS THE HISTORICAL ANTECEDENT OF THE GETFund?

The growth and development of Education in Ghana, has been almost entirely driven  by public spending.

This is especially the case from the period immediately following Independence when there was a huge and sustained surge in state spending for the provision of infrastructure, equipment and other related resources covering the full spectrum of the educational system – Basic, Secondary and Tertiary. 

True, some missionaries, other church related societies, NGO’s, and, quite recently, a growing corps of private entrepreneurs have been engaged in the provision of education infrastructures and facilities.  The foci of these private efforts are however limited to deprived and disadvantaged communities for the Faith-based organisations and NGOs, and, to some urban niche markets for the education entrepreneurs.  It is important to state though, that such efforts have been only supplementary as the State has remained the major provider and facilitator in this sector.

KINDLY EDUCATE US ON HOW THE GETFund HAS EVOLVED OVER THE YEARS.

The GETFund was instituted against a backdrop of a compound of complex and complicated challenges. 

These include:

• Rapidly rising enrolments at all levels of education – tertiary, secondary, and basic;
  
• Escalating demands on educational resources – infrastructure, facilities, and equipment by users at all levels.
  
• Declining public spending on education as a proportion of G.D.P., mainly on account of persistent sluggish growth, and, also because of competing claims by other sectors on national budgets;
  
• Over-crowded and decrepit educational infrastructure, including obsolete and inadequate textbooks and dysfunctional equipment; and,
• Re-current tensions between users, mainly students on one hand, and education service providers, both public and private on the other, arising from a creeping mismatch between sectoral resource allocations and escalating costs of providing such services and facilities.
  

Over the last nine (9) years, the GETFund has received and disbursed funds from tax revenue to facilitate the growth and development of education in Ghana by providing:

• Infrastructure;
• Facilities;
• Equipment;
• Textbooks; and
• Other forms of literature and learning materials.

Now, looking back, it seems reasonable to conclude that the GETFund, as a dedicated source of education financing has made some significant and strategic contribution to the promotion and development of education in Ghana.

But challenges still abound.  Distortions in resource allocations between, and, within sub-sectors of education are large and persistent.

EXPLAIN INTO DETAIL THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE GETFund SINCE ITS ESTABLISHMENT IN 2001

The GETFund is striding towards ten (10) years of its creation and subsequent operations.

And, through its activities, mainly in the area of providing educational infrastructure and other education related programmes and projects, the GETFund is clearly etched in the minds of diverse Ghanaian publics.  However, the overall image of the Fund is a mixed one, and, understandably so.

Against this backdrop, GETFund has earned some deserving praise and commendation on account of several significant achievements.  Some of these include:

• Completion of the chemistry laboratory project – The Torto building – of the University of Ghana.  This has been in the process of construction  for over a period of some 30 years!
• Major infrastructural upgrading and expansion at the Kumasi, Accra, Takoradi and Ho polytechnics to facilitate the start of degree programmes in those polytechnics;
• Supply of vehicles to all Girls 2nd cycle schools; a significant number of other 2nd cycle schools as well as some  tertiary level institutions.
  
• Training of faculty, especially at the polytechnics but also including the universities, through the Faculty Development and Research Facility of the GETFund;
  
• Construction and provision of hostels for seven (7) polytechnics; the University for Development Studies; and, the University of Education – Winneba to ease the rather intense accommodation pressures facing students at these institutions, and, also, to foster an atmosphere conducive to learning in those centres;
  
• Significant contribution of upwards of GH¢52,220,000.00 towards the sustenance of the Students Loan Trust Fund;
  
• Significant contribution of GH¢71,000,000.00 towards the operations of the Scholarships Secretariat
  
• Construction of computer laboratories and provision of computers to tertiary institutions;
  
• Regular supply of science equipment to universities; including the Colleges of Health Sciences of the University of Ghana; the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and the Cape Coast University Medical School.
  

Budget and operational support for a range of Departments and Agencies under the Ministry of Education. 

These include:

• The Ghana Library Board;
  
• National Council on Curriculum and Assessment;
  
• National Teaching Council;
  
• West African Examinations Council,
  
• National Council for Tertiary Education;
  
• National Accreditation Board;
  
• The Ghana Academy of Art and Sciences;
  
• The Encyclopedia Africana Project; etc, etc.
  
• National Board for Professional Technicians Examinations

PLEASE, TELL US ABOUT THE OBJECTIVE, MODE OF DISBURSEMENT OF THE FUND AND THE SOURCES OF REVENUES TO THE FUND

The object of the Fund is to provide finance to supplement the provision of education at all levels by the government.  And for the purpose of attaining this objective, receipts of the Fund are disbursed in accordance with a formula with the following specifics:

• Tertiary education;
  
• 2nd Cycle education;
• Basic education
  
• Investment; and
  
• Other related aspects of education such, as distance education; school and public libraries and special education.

Towards this end, the Board of Trustees submits to and obtains approval from Parliament annually, detailed spending arrangements provided for in distribution formulae.  And in preparing these formulae, the following instructions from Act 581 are taken into account.

• Promotion of the study of mathematics, science and technology,
  
• Advancement of female education;
  
• Reduction in high levels of illiteracy in historically disadvantaged areas; and,
  
• Promotion of computer, vocational and technical education and training.
  

The Act setting up the Fund specifies the following as sources of receipts for the Fund.

• 2½ % of VAT receipts for each fiscal year;
  
• Returns on investments made by the Board of Trustees;
  
• Grants, donations and gifts
  
• Other voluntary contributions

THE GETFund IS RENDERING AN INVALUABLE SERVICE TO THE CITIZENS IN THE AREA OF EDUCATION.  TELL US ABOUT THE LEVEL OF PUBLICITY THAT YOUR ORGANIZATION HAS BEEN DOING OVER THE YEARS TO CREATE THE NECESSARY AWARENESS IN ORDER TO BENEFIT  FINANCIALLY FROM ORGANISATIONS, PHILANTHROPISTS AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC.

The GETFund has been engaged in some publicity progammes and activities but these have not been directly structured to attract philanthropists and corporate organizations from whom some donations are expected.  Our limited publicity activities have been focused mainly on educating our stakeholders and the broader public about what we do and, also, about our modest successes and achievements.

These include, GETFund sponsorships of some educational and learning programmes such as the flagship Science and Mathematics Quiz for  senior high schools, and, the PSI on distance learning.
Having regard to the surging demand for infrastructure, facilities and equipment on one hand, and the competing claims on national budgets on the other, funding gaps are regularly encountered by the Fund.   In this regard therefore,  donations and other forms of assistance by philanthropists and other public spirited institutions are necessary and most welcome. This will assist in reducing these routinely occurring gaps.  Such forms of support will also help to improve and expand the range and courage of our activities and programmes.

Indeed, the Act setting up the Fund enjoins the Board of Trustees to conduct fund-raising activities with a view to generating additional extra-budgetary revenues to support the programmes of the GETFund.

SOME EDUCATION EXPERTS ARE  SUGGESTING THAT GOVERNMENT SHOULD GIVE TAX INCENTIVES TO COMPANIES AND INDIVIDUAL BUSINESS OWNERS WHO CONTRIBUTE TO THE FUND.  WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON THIS?

Tax incentives are tools governments employ to encourage corporate institutions to donate or support some action or cause.  They are thus, legal and acceptable instruments for attracting donations and sponsorships.  As an institution, the GETFund will benefit in some good measure if corporate institutions are allowed tax incentives because of donations made to the Fund.  This however, must be done in such a way that they do not hurt government revenues.  We welcome individuals and corporate business institutions who, based on our achievements, will want to support our mandate of providing supplementary financing to support public sector education spending in Ghana.

PRESENTLY, THE GETFund IS CENTRALIZED.  HOW ABOUT REVIEWING THE GETFund ACT TO DECENTRALIZE THE OPERATIONS OF THE GETFund BOARD AND BROADEN THE INVOLVEMENT OF ALL STAKEHOLDERS AND LOCAL INSTITUTIONS, INCLUDING TEACHERS’ ORGANIZATIONS AND TERTIARY STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES IN PRIORITIZING THE USE OF THE FUND?

The Act, 581 of 2000, from which the GETFund ensued, is explicit on the composition of the Board of Trustees.  It provides space for inclusion of some of the categories specified in your question.
Decentralization is consistent with our national governance structure and arrangements.  This has been evolving and growing since 1988.  Both government and the party in power support the decentralization thinking and there is firm commitment to give the concept a new fillip and  substance in the ensuing years.  Details regarding such policy thrusts when they are made available will have to be studied carefully to ensure that when adopted, the Fund will be more effective and accountable in what it does.

HAS THE GETFund EVER CONDUCTED ANY SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ON HOW STAKEHOLDERS OF THE FUND APPRECIATE THE WAY YOU OPERATE?  IF YES, WHAT WERE YOUR FINDINGS?  HOW DID THE FINDINGS HELP YOUR ORGANIZATION IN TERMS OF POLICY DIRECTION?

No such research has ever been conducted.  No systematic data  have been collected  on the basis of which the Fund can formulate some rough appreciation of the scope and thrust of its operations, and how these impact on stakeholder expectations and needs.

The need for such research and such database is long over due and the current Board of Trustees is working towards such survey(s) as regular features of Fund operations and management.

AS A HUMAN INSTITUTION, DEFINITELY YOU WILL BE FACED WITH SOME CHALLENGES, WHAT ARE THESE, AND HOW ARE YOU MANAGING THEM?

The GETFund, currently, is simply an agency for processing and effecting payments.  And these payments are routinely made by the Fund merely on the presentation of certificates in whose favour cheques are written out.  The GETFund is not a part of the contract awarding arrangements and therefore, remain largely ignorant of developments in the project cycle.  Several fortuitous factors account for this rather unfortunate state of affairs. Clearly, this situation should not endure any longer because its persistence has been dysfunctional to the efficient and effective operations of the Fund.  A review of the existing arrangements is necessary just so that payments are made for work for which GETFund has some reasonable assurance of satisfactory completion.

WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACHIEVE AS A BOARD IN THE NEXT FOUR (4) YEARS?

The GETFund, no doubt, has done appreciably well in the provision of educational infrastructure and facilities, especially for the tertiary sub-sector.

A distribution formula that skew resource allocation in favour of this sub-sector largely explain patterns of disbursements as currently obtain.  The patterns disclose large distortions.  Allocations to the various institutions within the tertiary sub-sector in particular, tend to evince confounding variations – from one institution to the other for universities, and between these universities and the polytechnics and other tertiary level institutions, on the other.

Spending imbalances  and distortions also prevail at the pre-tertiary sub-sector.  These imbalances have implications that are in clear discord with the Better Ghana project of the government.
Persistent disequilibria in resource allocations between different sub-sectors of pre-tertiary education are disclosed in the table below:

Evidently, resource allocations need to be re-aligned in accordance with a carefully derived formula driven by a strategy in which GETFund resources are deployed in a manner that sustains expanding access, especially at the basic level, that ensures equity whilst also assuring quality at all cycles of education.

The case for shifting pattern(s) of spending – away from the current tertiary pre-occupation towards basic and secondary – appears eminently sensible and compelling.
In this regard, the current Board of Trustees will promote the implementation of targeted disbursement formulae that sustain scale-up spending, especially for the categories of educational institutions specified in the table.