The House also approved GH¢7.9 million for the GETFund to distribute to the tertiary, secondary and basic education sub-sectors, as well as other related agencies of education.

Per the distribution formula, the tertiary sub-sector is allocated GH¢255,500,000 constituting 32.33 per cent; secondary, GH¢242,019,149 representing 30.63 per cent; basic, GH¢222,755,000 (28.19 per cent); GETFund and Ministry of Education, GH¢50,400,000 (6.38 per cent), and GH¢15,125,000 (1.9 per cent) for emergency projects of Members of Parliament (MPs) and GH¢4,425,000 (0.56) for monitoring.

Focus areas

The report of the Committee of the Whole on the proposed formula indicated that the GETFund would focus on fencing of schools with high risk of encroachment, provision of white boards in schools, construction of kindergarten facilities and regulatory and policy reforms.

It said funds would also be allocated to scholarships, the Students Loan Trust Fund, procurement of teaching and learning materials and demystifying and popularising Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and Information and Communication Technology.

Minority's concerns

The Minority Leader, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, said he did not find the GETFund formula satisfactory as it failed to highlight the government prior areas and how it intended to achieve them.

Besides, he said, the allocation had gone down by close to GH¢300 million compared to the GH¢1 billion for 2016.

Mr Iddrisu said the free senior high school did not receive any allocation, which would affect its implementation starting from September, 2017.

He again criticised the formula used for the specific allocations for all the educational institutions.

Majority's take

The Majority Leader, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, said the emphasis should be on the performance of the allocation but not on the quantum.

He said GH¢94,555,979 of the GH¢1 billion approved for 2016 was yet to be released.

Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said if the GH¢94,555,979 was released and added to the GH¢7.9 million for 2017, this year's actual out-turn would be high.