THE Minister of Education, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, has made a case for Parliament to cater for the needs of learners with special needs by creating a special account within the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) formula when it is brought to the House for approval.

According to him, at least GH¢100 million was needed to support free education for learners with special needs, which would include assisting devices. He also called for dedicated support to the Student Loan Trust Fund to cater for the ‘No Fees Stress’ initiative of the government under the formula.

Mr Iddrisu made the call when he addressed the House on Thursday before the passage of the GETFund Amendment Bill, 2025, by Parliament.

The passage of the bill effectively uncaps GETFund to provide financing for free secondary education, free education for persons with special needs, free education for persons with disabilities, and to make its levy input tax deductible.

“Mr Speaker, we will insist that when the GETFund formula comes to this House, we will insist that some special accounts be catered for in it as you will need about GH¢65 million to GH¢100 million to support free education for learners with special needs, which will include assisting devices,” Mr Iddrisu said.

He further said that the passage of the bill was a testament to the commitment of the government to the implementation of social intervention programmes in the country.

According to Mr Iddrisu, a lot of questions were asked by the Minority Caucus in Parliament about the commitment of President John Dramani Mahama’s government to social intervention programmes or policies, especially prior to the 2016 and 2024 general elections.

However, he noted that the GETFund Amendment Bill, 2025 and the Ghana Medical Trust Fund, also known as ‘Mahama Cares’, were prove that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration, led by President Mahama, was committed to the implementation of social intervention policies.

Mr Iddrisu said “Mr Speaker, President Mahama is not only responding appropriately to the questions asked by the Minority Caucus not just with policy but with guarantee funding through legislation to free Senior High School.”

He underscored the need for the government to support schools with special needs across the country as he indicated that they were the most vulnerable.

Mr Iddrisu, therefore, described the GETFund Amendment Bill, 2025, as the most inclusive initiative of President Mahama, adding that the government would provide schools with special needs with assisting devices to enhance teaching and learning.

The passage of the bill, Mr Iddrisu said, was not to take away the power of Parliament to approve the formula of the GETFund as it would be subjected to parliamentary scrutiny and approval.

However, he said “If you want to finance special needs education, you need to do it through the special needs education unit of the Ghana Education Service (GES). If you want to do ‘No Fees Stress,’ then maybe GETFund will provide additional funding to the Student Loan Trust Fund to be able to provide for that.”