The government has uncapped the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) and significantly increased funding for key educational initiatives in the 2025 budget, aiming to improve access to quality education and ease financial burdens on students.

Presenting the 2025 Budget Statement and Economic Policy in Parliament on Tuesday, March 11, Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson announced that an amount of GH¢3.5 billion has been allocated for the free secondary education programme for the year.

"Mr Speaker, the overarching concern about free secondary education has been its quality and the absence of a dedicated source of funding. H.E. President John Mahama has resolved the funding challenge by uncapping the GETFund.

African integrated digital payment platform, Interswitch has donated over Information Technology devices worth N45m to Yaba College of Technology, Lagos. The donation was made when the Interswitch team paid a courtesy visit to the Yabatech Rector, Ibraheem Abdul.

Some of the items donated include Cisco firewall, Cisco switches and Servers. Presenting the devices to the Yabatech management, the Sales Manager of Interswitch, Mr Femi Atere, said the gesture was in contributing to the institution building an academy that would impact students

He also promised that Interswitch would provide technology integration, advisory support and other digital spheres of influence. The donation was facilitated by Cisco, an industry partner with the college. Speaking, a Program Manager at Cisco Network Academy, Mr Imoh Akpan, stated that the equipment will assist the students in both practical and theoretical aspects of learning.

The Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Aisha Garba, has reaffirmed the commission’s commitment to strengthening collaboration with the Nasarawa State Government to improve access to quality basic education.

Garba made this known when she led a high-level delegation of UBEC management on a courtesy visit to the Executive Governor of Nasarawa State, Engr. Abdullahi Audu Sule. In a statement by the Head of Public Relations and Protocol of UBEC, Mr. David Apeh, on Sunday in Abuja, the UBEC boss used the occasion of the visit to undertake an inspection tour of UBEC-funded projects and facilities across the state.

Accompanying her were top UBEC officials, including the Director of Finance and Accounts, Alhaji Adamu Misau; the Director of Physical Planning, Engr. Sadiq Sa’ad; Elder Edward Abalaka, the North-Central Zonal Director; and Barr. Ibrahim D. Gold, Special Assistant to the Executive Secretary.

The Edo State Government has entered into partnership with Nigerian Education Loan Fund to make tertiary education accessible and affordable to its citizens in the state-owned tertiary institutions.

The Commissioner for Education, Dr Pally Iyamu, on Monday said that the partnership would guarantee Edo students access to university and tertiary education without paying school fees immediately. He also said that it would give the students access to a monthly stipend meant to offset their expenses while they were in school.

He said, “This is to let Edo people know that the state government has entered into partnership with Nigerian Education Loan Fund to make tertiary education accessible and affordable to its citizens in the state-owned tertiary Institutions.

The recently concluded National Education Forum in Ho marked a significant turning point in Ghana's education landscape. As a key stakeholder at the event, I posed a thought-provoking question to the audience: "Is the future of education about changing systems or is it about changing our attitude to accept a new definition of education?"

This question struck at the heart of our current education system which has been criticised for prioritising theoretical knowledge over practical skills. As I emphasised during the forum, the future of education is not about tweaking existing systems, but about fundamentally transforming our understanding of what education means.

For too long, we have adhered to a narrow definition of education, one that emphasises academic achievement above all else. However, this approach has failed to equip students with the practical skills and innovative thinking required to succeed in today's fast-paced, globalised world.

THE Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Aisha Garba, has attributed the lack of significant development of basic education in Nigeria, to poor coordination and weak partnerships between critical stakeholders in the sector.

She particularly lamented what she described as “inconsistent” collaboration among UBEC, States Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs), and State Ministries of Education, resulting in inefficiencies, poor monitoring, and reduced impact of educational interventions.

Garba, who is barely two months in office, took a bold step to address this yawning gap by convening a high-level meeting of UBEC management with Commissioners for Education and Chairmen of State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs).

African countries have started implementing measures contained in the Nouakchott Declaration that includes dedicating a new decade, up to 2034, to transforming education. Although the declaration is vague about the role of higher education during the decade, several of the educational priorities that have been named pertinently would also indirectly contribute to strengthening the higher education sector.

During a heads of state summit of the African Union (AU), which ended on 16 February, part of the discussions centred on the implementation of the declaration, which was accepted during the Continental Education Conference in December 2024, in Nouakchott, Mauritania.

The declaration commits African nations to transformative actions that include allocating 4%-7% of GDP to education funding and declaring 2025-34 as the “AU Decade of Accelerated Action for Education Transformation, Youth Skills Development and Innovation in Africa”, according to an AU statement.

The Ministry of Education (MoE) has reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring quality education through capacity-building initiatives, providing extensive training for teachers and school principals over the past reform years. Kotebe University of Education (KUE) recently hosted a stakeholder symposium focused on strengthening partnerships to enhance education quality.

In her opening speech, General Education State Minister Ayelech Eshete emphasized the Ministry’s prioritization of teacher recruitment and professional development as key to maintaining education standards. She underscored that teachers’ effectiveness in instruction and preparation directly impacts students’ learning outcomes.

“Last summer, over 50,000 Ethiopian high school teachers and school principals underwent capacity-building training at various institutions. Recognizing education as a cornerstone of national prosperity, the government is actively working to ensure quality education is both accessible and equitable,” she stated.

Deep thoughts Lighthouse Creative Academy, Lagos, has called on the Federal Government to embed creative education into the national curriculum. The founder of the academy, Opeyemi Akintunde, made this appeal during an exclusive interview with The PUNCH.

Such development, Akintunde said, will help to nurture young talents and equip them with practical skills that can contribute to the nation’s creative economy. “My dream is to see creativity formally embedded into the school curriculum,” she said. “Right now, children who are artistically inclined have very few opportunities within the traditional school system.

Creative subjects like storytelling, filmmaking, photography, and animation should be given the same priority as science and technology.” Akintunde said her academy, since 2018, has been doing its bit through holiday creative. “Over the years, the academy has trained and mentored over 3,000 children and teenagers, teaching them skills ranging from scriptwriting and acting to cinematography and video editing.

Management and staff of Daniella Montessori School, Ipaja, Lagos State have emphasised the importance of educating children about African culture and traditions. The headteacher of the school, Mrs Nnenna Amogu, led the charge during the African Day celebration.

She explained that the celebration was to enable the children to understand not only the cultures of Nigerian ethnic groups but also those of other African countries. “Our goal is to help children learn more about Africa and its rich cultural heritage,” she said.

We want them to understand not only Nigerian ethnic groups but also the cultures of other African countries. The children were excited when we introduced the idea. They immediately began researching different countries, their presidents, languages, and unique characteristics. It has been a rewarding and enlightening experience for them.

Ekiti State Teaching Service Commission has promoted 6,129 teaching and non-teaching staff in public secondary schools in the state. Chairman, Ekiti Teaching Service Commission, Mrs Rhoda Ojo, said the staff were those who were successful in the just-concluded 2022/2023 promotion exercise in the State.

A statement from the Commission made available in Ado Ekiti on Thursday stated that the TESCOM boss disclosed this in Ado Ekiti during a forum for teaching and non-teaching staff of secondary schools. “5,669 of the newly promoted staff are teachers while the remaining 460 are non-teaching staff,” Ojo said.

The TESCOM chairperson expressed joy that the wrangling among some teachers’ groups, which initially stalled the promotion of secondary school teachers in the state, had been resolved. She urged the newly promoted staff to reciprocate the government’s gesture by being diligent and dedicated to their duties.

As part of effort to encourage and enhance the girl child education in Nigeria, the Federal government through AGILE has set in motion plans to make every adolescent girl child get adequate education.

Adamawa state coordinator of Adolescent Girl Initiative Learning Empowerment (AGILE), Dr. Saddiki Liman said AGILE is poised to transform the educational landscape for adolescent girls in Nigeria as part of efforts to address the longstanding challenges of poverty and lack of access to education, which has been the clog in the progress of girls’ education in the country.

Adamawa state AGILE project coordinator, Saddiki Liman, who disclosed this today at a one-day stakeholders meeting in Yola, said the project has earmarked 32 junior and senior secondary schools for construction across 15 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the state. According to him “This infrastructure development is expected to provide additional learning facilities and create a conducive environment for academic excellence”.