Bailout package for private schools under consideration – Bawumia

Vice President, Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia says the Finance Minister has been tasked to draw up a programme aimed at mitigating the plight of private schools who have been hit the most following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

According to Dr. Bawumia, the government will soon engage the school owners on the issue.

“I think that there is going to be a discussion, to see how to cushion our private schools.”

“The President has already given a directive to the minster to take a look at how we can cushion our private schools and I think some funding is being made available in that direction,” he said.

The Vice President was speaking at a meeting with public and private school teachers in the Ablekuma Central constituency as part of his tour of the Greater Accra Region.

Most school students have been at home since March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The students have been mostly engaged in online learning.

Final year students returned to school from June whilst second years are expected in school from October 5, 2020.

The struggles of private schools have been well documented as they have consistently complained of a lack of revenue and asked for government support.

Ghana National Council of Private Schools (GNACOPS) even applied for a soft loan from the National Board of Small Scale Industries (NBSSI).

The Neogenics Education Group, an educational consultancy, had earlier petitioned President Akufo-Addo to support the various private schools with financial stimulus packages following the pandemic.

According to the group, which works with over 500 private schools and 5,000 private school teachers in Ghana, measures taken by the President in the wake of the pandemic have dealt a great blow to their activities.

It noted that parents are unwilling to pay outstanding fees from the previous term in 67 percent of private schools.

Source: citinewsroom