The Minister for Education and Member of Parliament for Tamale South Constituency, Honourable Haruna Iddrisu, has inaugurated three (3) institutions that will help shape the future of Ghana’s education sector.
They are the Governing Board of the Ghana National Research Fund (GNRF), the Governing Council of the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) and the Planning Committee for the 2025 TVET Week Celebration.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Mr Haruna described the establishment of the Ghana National Research Fund Governing Board as a major milestone in Ghana’s quest to promote innovation, evidence-based policymaking, and academic excellence.
The Minister in Charge of Education charged the Ghana National Research Fund Governing Board to ensure transparency, fairness, and impact in the disbursement of research funding to support national development.
At the inauguration of the UMaT Governing Council, he urged members to provide strong leadership, promote academic excellence, and drive innovation in mining and applied sciences—key sectors for Ghana’s industrial transformation.
The Education Minister also officially launched the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Week Planning Committee, ahead of this year’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) celebration.
The Minister of Education called on the committee to work collaboratively and creatively to showcase the relevance of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in job creation, skills development, and national growth.
In other news, the central government has paid a total of GHC2,710,227,947 to the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) for the months of January, February, March and April this year, Minister of Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, has said.
In a statement on the floor of Parliament on Tuesday, the Finance Minister said, “As earlier announced in the 2025 Budget, funding for the Free Senior High School Programme is now fully covered under the GETFund
Consequently, the challenges, including feeding, which previously impeded the smooth implementation of the programme, have been resolved.”
Additionally, Dr Cassiel Ato Forso indicated that a total amount of GHC2,033,469,607 had been disbursed to the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF).
“Notably, all transfers due to the National Health Insurance Fund for the period covering January to March 2025 have been paid,” the Minister of Finance told Parliament.
The Minister stated that those disbursements were intended to enable the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to settle arrears owed to healthcare providers and to implement the Free Primary Healthcare and Ghana Medical Care Trust programme, otherwise known as ‘Mahama Care’.
“Rt. Hon. Speaker, these payments are a clear reflection of our commitment to meet all statutory obligations in our priority sectors,” Dr Forson added as quoted by the Ghana News Agency (GNA).
“I’m pleased to report that under the leadership of President Mahama and the NDC, for the first time in several years, transfers to all other statutory funds have been made promptly and in full,” Dr Forson pointed out.
The Minister expressed the government’s commitment to ensure judicious utilisation of taxpayers’ money, saying: The era of reckless spending is over…we’ll not borrow recklessly, we’ll only spend when the money is available”.