A Deputy Minister of Education, Hon. Mahama Ayariga has stated that Government alone cannot bear the cost of education in the country and thus needs the help of other corporate organizations to support it in that regard.
According to him, government is now encouraging and inspiring other corporate organizations to begin to share with the less privileged ones in the country. He said providing tertiary education is very expensive for any Government, but much more so, for a developing country like Ghana, hence Government through the Ministry of Education, will continue to solicit support from partners to sustain its continued effort in ensuring that everyone has access to tertiary education.
The deputy minister said his sector will take steps to ensure the provision of relevant and quality education for Ghanaians, especially the disadvantaged to enable them to acquire skills which would make them functionally literate and productive.
He said due to the competitive nature of education globally government has liberated the provision of tertiary education to enable private institutions to access the benefit public universities are enjoying.
Hon Ayariga made these assertions at a presentation of a scholarship package worth some GH 23,000 to ten students for their 2012/2013 tertiary academic year.
The donation was made by IZWE Loans Limited, a subsidiary of the IZWE Group of Companies, a micro-finance group that officially begun operations last November.
The Scholarship was sourced from a Gh 1 million Public Sector Tertiary Education Scholarship fund set up by the company as part of its mission to improve the lives of public sector employees. It is also aimed at providing opportunity for children of public sector employees who show academic ability but cannot afford tertiary education.
The scholarship package will cover the the full cost of their tertiary education which includes tuition fees, accommodation, text books and other items depending on their various subjects.
In a brief address, Chairman of the IZWE Loans Scholarship Board, Prof.Kofi Agyekum, reiterated that the sole aim of setting up the scholarship fund is to contribute to the human resource development in the country.
