7 months ago
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The Vice President and Presidential Candidate for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has presented his vision for the education sector at the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) in Accra yesterday aim to garner support from administrators of Senior High Schools.
Dr Bawumia highlighted the significance of the meeting as an avenue to engage with a crucial stakeholder in the education sector.
He emphasised that under his administration, there would be a concerted effort to harness the private sector and implement an enhanced credit system to bolster educational infrastructure and provide the necessary support for both teaching and non-teaching staff, ultimately aiming to elevate the quality of education and improve educational outcomes.
“My vision is to leverage the private sector and an enhanced credit system to expand educational infrastructure and support teaching and non-teaching staff to improve the quality of education and educational outcomes,” the Vice President intimated.
Dr Bawumia elaborated on the strategy, emphasising that the private sector would be incentivised to construct essential infrastructure, such as dormitories and classrooms, which would then be leased to the government for a defined period, eventually becoming government-owned assets. Additionally, the government would facilitate the leasing of buses for schools.
The Vice President highlighted that this innovative financing approach would address the challenges, particularly the substantial initial government expenditures of high initial costs and project delays in high school infrastructure due to delayed funding.
“Under my proposal which I mentioned during my February 7th speech at UPSA, the private sector will be encouraged to build infrastructure (such as dormitories, classrooms, etc.) which the government will rent over a period of years and own after a period of time. Government will also lease buses for schools.
This new mode of financing will avoid huge initial government outlays (through the GETFUND) and delays in the completion of infrastructure projects in our senior high schools,” the Vice President reiterated.
Meanwhile, the Vice President acknowledged the valuable input from the executives of CHASS, recognising their contributions towards enhancing the Free Senior High School Policy and addressing broader educational issues.
BY TIMES REPORTER
