National Research Fund to be operationalised this year

The Ghana National Research Fund (GNRF) will effectively be operationalised this year.

Established under Act 1056 in 2020 and aimed to support national research in tertiary and research institutions with a pledge of an initial capital of $50million, the fund had not been operationalised.

However, the Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, gave the assurance that the fund would be operationalised as he had requested the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) to make seed money available in the formula of the fund for 2025.

At the closing of the National Education Forum in Accra last Thursday, the minister said: "So, Chairman of the Education Committee, the ball will soon be in your court to support Her Excellency to operationalise that.”

Feature

Another unique feature of this year’s GETFund formula, Mr Iddrisu said, would be the first ever allocation of at least some amount, one to two per cent of the GETFund to support technical education.

"We also intend to roll out what President Mahama will describe as the Local Scholarship Initiative.”

"Every public university will be supported to train five PhD students beginning this year locally," he emphasised.

The essence of the forum and the ideas, recommendations or blueprints that would emanate from it would help Ghana secure a sustainable future. 

Desire

That, he said, was the government's greatest desire.

Mr Iddrisu said they have an onerous responsibility to fix education and “fix it to meet our national aspirations and prepare our students and children for the competencies of the 21st century”.

I believe the blueprint that will come out of this will do just that"

He reiterated the President's assurance that he would not interfere with the academic freedom of any higher institution of learning.

"I'm aware that many of you are concerned about your councils. I have been consulting with Her Excellency, the Vice-President, and soon, the members of the councils would be named.

Consultations

The Government of Ghana committed to conducting a series of consultations to critically examine issues and challenges in the education sector.

The consultations were to collate and build consensus for education on the theme: “Transforming education for a sustainable future”.

It aimed at contributing to achieving the government's vision of an "enhanced education system to nurture talents, foster innovation and equip students to be globally competitive with relevant skills for the fast-changing world of work".

Apart from the national dialogue, the committee met various stakeholders including student groups and faith-based Organisations.