Government allocates GH¢7m to Public Universities and Polytechnics

Government allocates GH¢7m to universities

The government has allocated GH¢7 million to public tertiary institutions to expand their student intake capacity next academic year.

A Deputy Minister of Education in charge of Tertiary Institutions, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, made this known at a consultative meeting with vice-chancellors of public universities and rectors of polytechnics in Accra yesterday.

The meeting was also attended by representatives from the ministries of Education, Finance and Economic Planning and the National Council for Tertiary Education.

The meeting was at the instance of the Education ministry to discuss issues confronting the institutions, particularly the admission of the two batches of students who completed senior high school (SHS) this year.

The stakeholders agreed that intake of students to tertiary institutions this year should be increased to accommodate the huge number of students who completed SHS this year.

Mr Ablakwa said a team of stakeholders would visit all the institutions next week to access the challenges confronting them, as well as their levels of preparedness for admission next academic year.

He affirmed the government’s commitment to ensure that as many candidates as possible who qualified to enter tertiary institutions were admitted this year.

There has been public fear as to how public tertiary institutions will be able to accommodate the students who completed SHS this year.

However, Mr Ablakwa said the government was committed to supporting the institutions to expand their infrastructural base, adding that with the additional GH¢7 million allocated, “we will be able to complete the projects that we began which were at about 70 per cent complete”.

He said the government, mindful of the contribution of human resource to the nation’s development, would continue to invest in that sector.