NUGS calls for restructuring of GETFund Secretariat

Accra, Aug. 4, GNA - The National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) on

Monday called for the restructuring of the GETFund Secretariat to have different sections that would efficiently handle matters in relation to various levels of education.

It also called for more attention to be paid to less endowed schools, saying this would help reduce the pressure on the well-established schools and bring education to the doorsteps of the communities. The recommendations followed the findings of a committee set up by the student body to find out whether complaints that the GETFund was being misapplied to the detriment of education were justified. A statement signed in Accra by Kwaku Tuoho Bombason, NUGS President, said though the GETfund provided a glimmer of hope it raised fundamental questions that bothered the minds of the NUGS executives and its members. NUGS called on GEFund to pay greater attention to mixed schools, which had greater female population to advance female education, deregulate the selection of consultants to involve competent private consultancy firms to reduce the monopoly and perceived corrupt practices of the Architectural and Engineering Services Limited (AESL) and Public Works Department (PWD).

It said GETFund project beneficiaries should have a good maintenance policy and students should be encouraged to be more responsible in the use of facilities. The NUGS said project beneficiaries and/or end users should be involved at all levels in the decision making and implementation to increase participation in and support for the projects. It called for the speeding up the Right to Information Law and paying of particular attention to Technical and Vocational Education. "As a major stakeholder in education, it is the hope of NUGS that the findings by the committee will serve as reference point for decision makers and policy implementers to make sure that the future of this country is not jeopardized through the frustrations of the noble ideas of the fund," the statement added.

It said the Committee found that the work of AESL and PWD as consultants to GETFund projects was not satisfactory while payment for contractors was always behind schedule, adding, "ninety-two per cent of contractors complained that GETFund does not honour their certificates on time thus forcing them to engage in other projects." He said given the process, observations were made that payment for contractors delayed unduly thus disrupting the master programmes for the projects, adding that about 65 per cent of GETFund projects in all tertiary and Senior High School (SHS) levels of education were behind schedule because of delay in disbursement.

On delays in approving requisition by SHS the statement said annual requisitions made by schools heads through the Ghana Education Service and the Regional Coordinating Council delayed whiles many others were not approved.

The committee, the statement said, found that most of the projects and investment since 2001 were also behind schedule. "About 62 per cent of the projects during the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy I is still behind time. The vast majority and investment within GPRS II are still not completed," it said. 04 Aug. 08