A total of 2,731 infrastructure projects have been completed by the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) between 2019 and 2023, the Administrator of the Fund, Dr Richard Ampofo Boadu, has announced.
These projects include 1,430 at basic school level, 1,144 for Senior High School level and 138 at the tertiary level.
In addition to that, 15 E-blocks initiated by the previous administration, two Technical Vocational Education Training (TVET) centres and two model schools have also been completed.
Dr Boadu, who disclosed this at stakeholder forum organised by the fund in Accra yesterday said, the completed projects also included what had become known as the legacy projects initiated by previous governments.
He said about GH¢800,000,000 had so far been paid to contractors who were awarded with these projects and these constituted about 96 per cent of the cost.
The forum was on the theme: “Innovation: A must to achieving positive outcomes” and was attended by academia, civil society organisations, students, and the media.
Dr Boadu said the fund had deployed innovation in the management of its operations and this has brought in a lot more efficiency.
On his part, the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, said education and infrastructure were means of promoting a quality education system that would transform teaching and learning in schools, and also equip students for the job market.
He said that students needed a better learning environment to produce better results, which would give them the opportunities to upgrade their education.
Dr Adutwum said GETFUND through the Ministry of Education had been prioritising Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), and had built some STEM schools and centres to encourage and equip students.
“This is going to enable us to increase the percentage of students enrolled in STEM-related courses, as compared to those pursuing humanities programmes.
The GETFUND scholarship programme has also focused on STEM education, although ensuring that there is equity for all students pursuing various programmes for the betterment of our country,” he said.
Dr Adutwum said despite the GETFUND scholarship and infrastructure programmes, the government through the Ministry of Education is also embarking on schools building initiative with funding from international partners.
He noted that the government through the Kuwait fund is building three STEM high schools in the country, while the Arab Development Bank, is also assisting the government with infrastructure development projects in some senior high schools.