On behalf of 4,279 students from various national universities and colleges, the Ghana Education Trust Fund( GETFund) paid GH25.3 million in annual fees on August 1, 2023. The award recipients were enrolled in those institutions' undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate programs. In contrast to previous years, when GETFund scholarships favored African students studying abroad, in this period more scholarships were given to applicants attending local universities and colleges.
According to GETFund, there are 63% more successful applicants this year than there were 2,704 recipients last year. BrytGh learned that more than 17, 000 applicants might be waiting for their turn and that about 300 qualified applicants have yet to take advantage of the fellowship. We would like to urge them not to waste this chance.
To continue participating in the fellowship program, the beneficiaries may work hard in their studies and earn the required grades. They should be aware that GETFund's ongoing sponsorship of them is directly related to their academic performance and that those who don't get the required grades will have their fellowship withdrawn without hesitation. Additionally, GETFund reserves the right to revoke their fellowship if they are recipients of other scholarship programs, are found guilty of misconduct, or defer the program without the Administrator's prior written consent.
The Daily Graphic applauds GETFund's management for deviating from providing Ghanaian students with scholarships to attend expensive university programs internationally when they could have done so locally. One student's tuition at a foreign university would cost the same as training more than 22 local health professionals.
For instance, training a first-year medical student locally will typically cost around GH12,000 per year for the 2022– 2023 academic year, while the same students pursuing medicine at any UK university will pay at least£ 19,000 annually. In addition to this£ 19,000, the government also pays for things like a monthly stipend, warm clothing allowance, and other expenses, so an international university program costs at least£ 23,000 per year.
It is true that in the past, a local student was denied GH20,000 to enroll in programs at local universities, but his counterpart who applied for scholarships to study an almost identical program at UK universities was given£ 13, 000 in tuition in addition to some reasonable amounts of pounds sterling to cover the cost of books and clothing, as well as other yearly expenses for two years.
Unfortunately, the majority of those students end up refusing to go back home after receiving taxpayer-funded training, depriving the nation of their expertise— the reason they were sent there. Students on government scholarships outside of the country frequently complain about not getting the money they should from the government.
Next year, when Russia- Ukraine conflict erupted, Ghana had to remove its students studying it and most of them are continuing their programs in Ghana. That means that whatever they are being taught in those international institutions is similar to or the same as what is done directly.
BrytGh doesn't understand how the administration of the account did not see the waste that went on when like amounts could have been used to teach many professionals instead of one individual. Ghanaians cannot understand why such selections were taken and nothing, including our representatives in Parliament, always raised any red flags. So, if the control and board of GETFund find it wise to instead invest in our institutions by sponsoring students to pursue programs directly, we cannot but applaud this decision. However, that is the way to go and there should be no turning back.
In addition to saving the national coffers, GETFund's decision also helps to keep local universities afloat so they don't run out of money. Strengthening our educational institutions to produce the required human capital is essential for us to achieve the highly regarded Ghana Beyond Aid goal, and GETFund's action is the right one.
