MyJoyOnline and 3News both report GH¢250m for Category A schools, but MyJoyOnline says the top 12 schools get GH¢2m each. GETFund paid out 52% of its 2025 second-cycle allocation and owed GH¢1.9bn at year-end.
Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu said on Saturday, 14 November, at Mfantsipim School's 150th anniversary durbar in Cape Coast, that GETFund money would go to infrastructure in top-tier Category A senior high schools in 2027.
Both outlets that covered the speech report the GH¢250 million. They differ on what the 12 best-performing schools get. MyJoyOnline quoted him as saying "the best 12 performing senior high schools at WASSCE will benefit from GH¢2 million GETFund funding".
The same report says GH¢250 million from GETFund's 2027 formula will go to Category A schools. 3News, working from the school's livestream, reported GH¢250 million and said: "On the livestream, the minister says GH¢250 million, twice." We have not reviewed the livestream.
MyJoyOnline's headline reads GH¢2m "each". Twelve schools at GH¢2 million each would be GH¢24 million, about a tenth of GH¢250 million.
The GH¢250 million is not new. On 6 August, at Achimota School, Mr Iddrisu directed GETFund to make "a minimum allocation of GHS250 million in the 2027 formula", Modern Ghana reported. He then named nine schools, Mfantsipim among them.
The scale
The 2027 Budget puts the GETFund Levy at GH¢11.18 billion (Appendix 3A, Summary of Central Government Operations). The Statement (para 1560) rounds this to GH¢11.2 billion.
GH¢250 million is 2.2% of that. GH¢24 million would be 0.2%.
These are plans. Under section 8(2) of the GETFund Act, the fund's board must submit a distribution formula to Parliament for approval each year, Parliament's 2026 formula report notes.
That report is dated 24 February 2026. The minister spoke of the 2027 formula as an allocation still to be made.
Source: Parliament of Ghana, Report of the Committee of the Whole on the Proposed Formula for the Distribution of GETFund for 2026, Table 2 (scanned report, checked against the page images). The GH¢250 million pledge is a planned 2027 allocation, not a 2025 disbursement.
What happened to 2025's money
Parliament's report on the 2026 formula shows how far releases fell short of allocations last year:
- GETFund was allocated a GH¢8.57 billion levy for 2025. It received GH¢6.21 billion by 31 December, or 72%.
- Of GH¢10.39 billion in expected 2025 inflows, including arrears brought forward from 2024, it disbursed GH¢6.01 billion, or 58%.
- Second-cycle education was allocated GH¢6.79 billion and received GH¢3.51 billion in disbursements, or 52%.
- Outstanding second-cycle liabilities were GH¢1.90 billion at year-end. That is 7.6 times the GH¢250 million pledge.
For 2026 the formula gave second-cycle education 61.87% (GH¢6.108 billion) of GH¢9.87 billion, with GH¢4.2 billion for Free SHS. The 2027 Budget's Appendix 2A projects 2026 GETFund Levy collections at GH¢8.10 billion. That is 82% of the GH¢9.87 billion revised budget.
What people on X are saying
Joy 99.7 FM's post of the GH¢2 million headline (@Joy997FM) had about 12,200 impressions and 22 quote posts by Saturday night. Most of the replies argued about fairness.
"Use that money to improve the Category B and C schools instead," wrote @ChristDeKing. @_edemkojo asked: "Where is equity? Should this perhaps be rather given to most improved SHSs?"
Mr Iddrisu also said 30 Category B schools would be moved up to Category A, 3News reported. In August he had put that figure at 20 (Modern Ghana).
What it means
On either reading, the pledge is a small part of GETFund's planned 2027 money. Whether it gets built depends on two things: the 2027 formula Parliament approves, and how much of the levy actually reaches the fund.
In 2025 the second-cycle account got about half its allocation. On Friday we reported that 10,730 public basic schools have no classroom blocks (StatsGH).
The Ministry of Education and GETFund were not asked to comment for this piece. We found no ministry statement clarifying the figure.
Limitations
- We did not watch the livestream. The GH¢250 million is reported by both MyJoyOnline and 3News and matches the minister's 6 August directive. The GH¢2 million a school for the top 12 is MyJoyOnline's reading; 3News says the livestream has GH¢250 million twice.
- The 2025 figures come from Parliament's 2026 formula report, a scanned document we read page by page. "Received" (levy) and "disbursed" (spending) are different measures.
- GETFund Levy collections in the Budget appendices are not the same as transfers to the fund.
- No selection rule for the 12 schools has been published.
Sources: MyJoyOnline, "Mfantsipim @ 150: Top 12 WASSCE-performing SHSs to receive GH¢2m each from GETFund – Haruna Iddrisu", 14 Nov 2026. 3News, "Haruna Iddrisu promises 10 model SHSs and GH¢250m for top schools as Mfantsipim turns 150", 14 Nov 2026. Modern Ghana, "Category A schools to receive GHS250 million infrastructure boost under 2027 GETFund formula", 6 Aug 2026. Parliament of Ghana, Report of the Committee of the Whole on the Proposed Formula for the Distribution of GETFund for 2026, 24 Feb 2026 (Tables 1–3; sections 3.0, 5.0, 5.1.2). Ministry of Finance, 2027 Budget Statement, para 1560; Appendix 2A and 3A (Summary of Central Government Operations). Ministry of Finance, 2027 Budget Speech, para 597.
X posts: @Joy997FM; @ChristDeKing; @_edemkojo. StatsGH, 10,730 public basic schools have no classroom blocks.