Appoint board of trustees for GETFund - NUGS
The National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) has raised concerns over the absence of a board of trustees to manage the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund).
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The union said the situation had delayed GETFund projects as a result of the non-payment or delay in the payment of statutory funds due it.
Addressing the press in Accra, the National President of NUGS, Mr Michael Paa-Quecy Adu, said the trend of events was worrying and unacceptable.
“The law establishing the GETFund states that ‘the board shall submit annually to Parliament for approval a formula for the distribution of monies to the various accounts of beneficiary institutions’,” he said.
Appeal to President
The union has, therefore, appealed to President John Mahama to appoint a board of trustees in accordance with Section 6 (2) of the Ghana Education Trust Act , 2000 (Act 581) to ensure the effective management of the fund.
It also observed that the erratic power supply situation was negatively affecting educational institutions in the country.
“The government has a responsibility to create an enabling environment for quality teaching and learning to thrive in our schools and NUGS is afraid that responsibility has not been met satisfactorily,” he said.
Mr Adu said there was an urgent need for the government to ensure a timely solution to the energy crisis.
Payment of utility bills
On the payment of utility bills in public schools, the NUGS president said even though the government, through the Ministry of Education, had indicated that the cost of utilities would be absorbed, some contradictory statements from government officials still left some room for doubt.
The press conference also touched on what NUGS called “the unprecedented and massive withdrawal of students from colleges of education” across the country.
The union, therefore, made an appeal to the Institute of Education of the University of Cape Coast to reconsider the plight of the affected students.
It further raised concerns over the purported ejection of students of the Ghana School of Survey and Mapping (GSSM) from their site in Accra by the Lands Commission and called for due diligence to be carried out to ensure that the right thing was done.