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Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, Ghana’s Finance Minister, has announced significant policy changes meant to enhance the country’s ability to finance education.
The Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) must be uncapped in order to fully finance the Free Senior High School (SHS) program and free tertiary education for people with disabilities (PWDs).
On Tuesday, March 11, Forson presented the government’s 2025 Budget Statement and Economic Policy to Parliament. He disclosed that GHC499.8 million had been set aside to establish a “No-Fees-Stress” policy that would prohibit academic fees for all first-year students in public tertiary institutions.
The goal of this program is to lessen the financial strain that entering college places on students and their families.
“By uncapping the GETFund, we will be making available an additional GH¢4.1 billion to specifically finance the Free SHS programme and other related expenditures,” he said.
The Free SHS program has a GHC3.5 billion budget for 2025, with additional funding from the GETFund guaranteeing complete funding. In order to bolster education funding even more, the government has also taken on the principle and interest payments on the Daakye bond that GETFund agreed to issue.
GH¢564.6 million is set aside in the budget to provide free curriculum-based textbooks to students at different levels. This comprises “four sets of KG books and workbooks for about 2.8 million learners, four sets of primary textbooks for 800,000 learners, and nine sets of JHS 3 textbooks for 540,000 learners.”
The budgeted allocation for the School Feeding Program has increased by 33%, from GH¢1.344 billion to GHC1.788 billion in 2025. This indicates that the daily food expense per child has increased from GHC1.50 to GH¢2.00.
The amount allotted for the Capitation Grant has also increased, rising from GHC84 million in 2024 to GHC145.5 million in 2025, a 73.2% increase.
To further help students in professional training institutes, the government has set aside GHC203 million for teacher trainee allowances and GHC480 million for nursing trainee allowances.
With an emphasis on quality and accessibility for students at all levels, these budgetary allocations for education represent a substantial step towards guaranteeing long-term and adequately supported educational policy in Ghana.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
