Extend GETFund facility to private schools â?? Educationist

Ajumako-Aduyaw (C/R), Sept. 13, GNA – An educationist and a traditional ruler, has advocated the inclusion of private schools to benefit from the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) facility.

Reverend Nana Oboedum V, Chief of Aduyaw also said private schools deserved awards such as the Ghana Cocoa Board scholarship for private students whose parents are farmers and fishermen.

Rev. Nana Oboedum made the appeal through the Member of Parliament for Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam, Mr Atto Forson and the District Chief Executive, Mr Peter Light Koomson at a durbar and fund-raising to climax their annual Akwanbo festival at Aduyaw in the Central Region.

He said private schools had been denied support from the GETFund for far too long, even though the national cake was supposed to be equitably distributed.

Rev Nana Oboedum, who is also the National President of the Conference of Heads of Private Second-Cycle Schools (CHOPSS), said the private schools enrolled students with low aggregates.

He said with good supervision, management, and use of limited resources these students had been able to pass their examinations and compete with their counterparts from the well-endowed public schools to gain admission into the universities for further education.

“It is on record that private basic schools perform better than public schools in the Basic Education Certificate Examination results and that with time and such support from the government to the private SHS will further excel in the tertiary institutions,” he stressed.

Rev. Nana Oboedum explained that festivals were for stock-taking and to allow citizens far and near to take strategic plans for the best, adding “festivals are not fetish as some churches preach”.

Rev. Nana, who owns two private SHSs at Bawjiase and Accra, advised students with good aggregates to call in the schools for free tuition and that 35 students from the district were benefitting from the gesture.

An information centre provided by Rev Nana Oboedum for Aduyaw with equipment costing over GHc900 was officially commissioned.

The DCE, Mr Koomson commended the chief for his foresight and assured him that his appeal would be taken care of.

He advised the general public to register in their numbers in the upcoming voter registration exercise – He said the old register would be replaced with a new biometric register.

Mr Forson praised the chief and assured him that he would forward a question to the Minister of Education and or prepare a statement to Parliament on the appeal.

On development projects, he said, the government had spent over 100 million US dollars within the last two-and-a-half years and that the road from Ajumako to Essakyer had also been awarded on contract