Bawumia Spells Out Education Strategy

Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, who doubles as flag-bearer of the  New Patriotic Party (NPP) for the December 2024 polls has held fruitful deliberations with the National Executive of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) to explain his policy on education if he becomes President.

“They made some excellent contributions on improving the free Senior High School Policy and general aspects of education. I used the opportunity to explain my vision of leveraging 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”, Dr. Bawumia noted.

Bawumia highlighted the significance of the meeting as an avenue to engage with a crucial stakeholder in the education sector.

“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”, he intimated.

Dr. Bawumia elaborated on the strategy, emphasizing 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, recognizing their contributions towards enhancing the Free Senior High School Policy and addressing broader educational issues.