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.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not money, it is not even the infrastructure, it is not even the qualification of the teachers\u2026 the secret is this over-centralization of the Ghana Education Service (GES),\u201d Prof. Adei said on the Citi Breakfast Show<\/strong>.<\/p>\n [contextly_sidebar id=”RUWJNVVfyyMH3gP9mrSqibswGC3ZxFNi”]With respect to assessing \u00a0and sanctioning teacher performance, he stated that the non-decentralization has essentially eroded accountability.<\/p>\n Prof. Adei further noted that, supervision was an issue, as teachers \u201cand most of the teachers don\u2019t care a hoot about children.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Prof. Adei\u00a0also bemoaned the inaction of policy makers who favored political expediency over ensure best practices in the education sector.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen 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.\u201d<\/p>\n