Education Minister interacts with departmental heads

Social Tamale, July 9, GNA- Mr Kwadjo Baah Wiredu, Minister of Education, Youth and Sports announced on Tuesday in Tamale that the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFUND) has yielded 400 billion cedis between January and June this year. He said his Ministry was, therefore, seeking approval from Parliament on a formula for its disbursement to the relevant institutions.

Mr Wiredu was on a day's visit to the Northern Region to interact with heads of departments under the Ministry to collate their views on the effective administration of the ministry and also to bring them together to avoid duplication of functions to ensure judicious use of resources. The visit was also to enable him to hold the heads responsible for their actions and inactions during their tenure of office. Mr Wiredu, however, said that there were some distortions in the law that established the GETFUND and that the Ministry was critically examining it to correct all the anomalies in its operations. He announced that a Spanish government grant of 14.6 million dollars agreement would be signed in Kumasi on Wednesday, and would be allocated to the University for Development Studies (UDS) and some selected polytechnics to improve on their infrastructure development.
The Minister said the World Bank has also provided 31 million dollars under the Education Sector Project to upgrade the skills of lecturers and develop students hostel facilities. He said the Committee appointed by the government to review the Education Reforms had presented its report to parliament and some of the relevant agencies and the ministry was consulting them for their comments and inputs before its implementation.
Mr Wiredu urged the directorate of UDS to make the infrastructure development and the provision of equipment for the Medical School as their main priority area to push the university forward.
On sports, he said the sector needed to be revamped to turn the fortunes of the country forward and that his ministry was considering revising the Sports Festival and making the National Inter colleges and Primary Schools Sports Festival an annual affair to unearth talents for the country.
Answering a question on the fate of the Black Stars Coach, the Minister said there were conditions attached to his appointment and that the Ghana Football Association (GFA) must interpret them to the letter.