Executive Director of Africa Education Watch (EduWatch), Kofi Asare, has voiced strong concerns over government’s new plan to finance the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) programme through the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund).

His reaction follows Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu’s announcement that GETFund will now serve as the main funding source for the flagship policy.

Speaking on Citi Eyewitness News on Wednesday, November 19, Mr. Asare warned that placing such a heavy burden on the GETFund threatens infrastructure development across the entire education sector, particularly at the tertiary level, which has no alternative financing cushion.

He explained that GETFund was originally created to serve as the sector’s infrastructure backbone, yet the 2026 allocation shows that Free SHS alone will absorb an estimated GH₵4.2 billion, representing about 42% of the Fund’s resources.
“The infrastructure backbone of the sector is the GETFund. There is virtually no capex in the GOG. GETFund is now a net funding source of Free Senior High School so if you do 4.2 billion of GETFund for Free SHS, that is 42% of the GETFund allocation for 2026. By the time you begin allocating GETFund to other interventions for Basic, Secondary, Tertiary, you are going to have virtually something very little by way of support for infrastructural development at the tertiary level. Basic education finds comfort under DACF, " he said.

He noted that while basic education has some support through the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) which financed 261 new primary, KG and JHS blocks in 2025 and has similar allocations in the 2026 Budget, tertiary institutions have no such buffer.

"That is why I think that the allocation for education was inadequate especially where the oil revenues which were used to finance significantly Free SHS is no longer available to the sector,” he stated.

Mr. Asare urged government to explore alternative and innovative financing options to sustain infrastructure development, especially in tertiary education.