The root of the problems in Ghana’s education system lie in the over-centralisation of the sector, a former rector of GIMPA, Professor Stephen Adei has said.
“It is not money, it is not even the infrastructure, it is not even the qualification of the teachers… the secret is this over-centralization of the Ghana Education Service (GES),” Prof. Adei said on the Citi Breakfast Show.
[contextly_sidebar id=”RUWJNVVfyyMH3gP9mrSqibswGC3ZxFNi”]With respect to assessing and sanctioning teacher performance, he stated that the non-decentralization has essentially eroded accountability.
Prof. Adei further noted that, supervision was an issue, as teachers “and most of the teachers don’t care a hoot about children.”
“When a teacher misbehaves at the school level, there is practically nothing that a head teacher or anybody can do. If you go through the system it will take you years… there is practically no accountability, management is disenfranchised at the school level, teachers can do whatever. One study shows that Ghana has one of the highest absenteeism rates in the whole of Sub-Saharan Africa,” he said.
Prof. Adei also bemoaned the inaction of policy makers who favored political expediency over ensure best practices in the education sector.
“When anybody has the freedom to do whatever they like; where they get zero passes or not they will be paid, of course they will do nothing and the politicians are not doing anything because they are thinking of not losing votes.”
Secondary education’s woes
Prof Adei’s comments on the education sector come as the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) is threatening to close down Senior High Schools nationwide for the 2016/2017 academic year, following government’s delay in paying subsidies.
CHASS has complained it is struggling to effectively manage the affairs of Senior High Schools across the country due to the delay in the payment of subsidies to schools.
“Some of the pressing challenges are unpaid absorbed fees and feeding grants, unpaid Ghana government scholarships, unpaid progressively free scholarship, inadequate feeding fees of GHC 3.30 per student per day for 3 meals, high electricity, water and telephone bills, high expenditure on sanitation and fumigation due to bed bugs infestation in schools, non-payment of GOG grant for administration since 2011, and no replacement of retired teaching and non-teaching staff,” the President of CHASS, Cecilia Kwakye Coffie has said.
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana