Naa Prof. Chairman, Hon. Minister of Education, Hon. Deputy Ministers, Chief Director and Directors of the Ministry of Education, Colleague Board Members, Management AND Staff of the Students Loan Trust Fund, Friends from the Media, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Good morning, and welcome to this landmark occasion in the life of the Students Loan Trust Fund.
The current Board of Trustees was inaugurated on Friday, 10th September, 2014, exactly a year ago, with the key mandate of enhancing the Trust Fund’s operational efficiency to carry out its mandate of administering loans to students in accordance with the enabling legislation of the Fund, Act 2011, Act 820, which is also in consonance with articles 25 and 38 of the 1992 constitution.
Haven taken over, the Board took on the challenge of developing policies and strategies that will ensure that the Fund delivers improved services to its stakeholders continually, especially our tertiary students, to enable them realize their full potentials and achieve individual goals, which would, invariably, translate into improved human capital of our nation, Ghana.
In this regard, Prof. Chairman, the Fund is accordingly celebrating the 10th Anniversary under the theme: “TRANSFORMING TERTIARY EDUCATION FINANCING IN GHANA”. This will be broken down into sub-themes and shared with policy makers, educationist, financial institutions, traditional rulers, religious bodies, civil society, and indeed, the general public for inputs.
Prof. Chairman, distinguished invited guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, this Official Launch is therefore, meant to prepare the grounds for these extensive consultations and draw attention to the sub-themes so that stakeholders are able to make a meaningful impact when the consultations cystallise.
The sub-themes include:
- Attracting private sector participation in the students loan scheme in Ghana;
- Effective targeting of the students loan for improving the supply and efficient distribution of critical manpower in the country;
- Building a national consensus for a healthy student loan amount; and
- Supporting the roll-out of a cashless society in Ghana, through accessing the students’ loan.
Prof. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen. At this juncture I wish to express my sincere gratitude and those of my colleague Board members to the Ministry of Education for its support and guidance over the period. My gratitude also goes to the management and staff of the Trust Fund. Finally, I will also extend my warm appreciation to the other stakeholders including: Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Tertiary Institutions, PSC, our partner banks and the GETFund for the various roles played in making the Students Loan Trust Fund perform to its mandate over these 10 years.
Naa Prof. Chairman I therefore, welcome you all to this landmark event in the life of the Students Loan Trust Fund, and hope you are going to pick valuable lessons from our eminent speakers and begin to form your opinions as to how to contribute positively for the fulfillment of the Students Loan agenda, going forward.
Thank you.
Chairman, Board of Trustees
Mr. Andy Osei Okrah
