Gov't releases GH¢3m to purchase furniture for tertiary institutions

Government has released a total GH¢3m for the purchase of additional furniture for public tertiary institutions to enable them increase their intake for this semester.

This is to augment the GH¢7.6m released earlier this year for the completion of expansion projects at the various public tertiary institutions.

It formed part of efforts to assist the country's tertiary institutions to absorb the expected swelling number of qualified applicants for admission for the 2013/14 academic year.

It is also to allay the fears of many parents who are anxious of their wards' chances of gaining admission into the country's tertiary institutions. Over 400,000 students graduated from the Senior High Schools this year.

This is the result of the double stream of students - SHS '3' and '4' candidates - who participated in the 2013 West Africa Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination.

Addressing the media at the Flagstaff House on Friday, Deputy Information and Media Relations, Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed said government realised "serious deficiency in infrastructure" at many of the tertiary institutions and has "released the GH¢3m to take care of that".

"So what we want to tell parents, students and would-be university students who would be applying [for admissions] is that, there is no cause for alarm. Government is doing everything possible to accommodate the two streams...," Murtala Mohammed assured.

Meanwhile, President John Mahama has expressed satisfaction with arrangements by the various universities to absorb the anticipated high number of fresh students.

The president articulated his contentment after a meeting with authorities of the University of Ghana, to discuss plans to deal with these fears.

Murtala Mohammed said government has also taken the decision to extend the Student Loan Scheme to students in private tertiary institutions.