Privatisation of education needs proper regulation – GNAT
The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) has said privatisation of education in Ghana requires proper regulation to ensure that basic education remained accessible and affordable to those who chose to patronise their services.
The environment and infrastructure of some private schools leaves much to be desired while others existed without the knowledge of the Ghana Education Service (GES) but charge exorbitant fees, the GNAT said.
It called on the Regional and District Directors of Education to check recalcitrant and unlicensed Schools’ operators who were exploiting parents, students and pupils.
Madam Gifty Apanbil, GNAT Deputy General Secretary in charge of Education and Professional Development, made the call at the end of a five-day in-service training for about 500 selected teachers in the Central Region.
It was aimed at deepening the teachers’ knowledge and understanding of subject contents, leadership and administrative skills to be relevant to the child in the classroom.
The training was organised by GNAT in collaboration with the Canadian Teachers Federation (CTF) under its “GNAT/CTF Nkabom Project Overseas in-service training workshop for teachers.
Madam Apanbil said though private schools were required by regulation to have at least 40 per cent of their teaching staff as trained, the regulation was being faulted with impunity and called on educational managers to up their game to ensure that the schools met the required standard.
She said GNAT as a major stakeholder in education believed in the right of every Ghanaian child to have free quality basic education as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution and in the Social Development Goals (SDGs).
She said GNAT as a professional organisation, also believed in continuous education and professional development of its members.
The GNAT would seek allies and build alliances to advocate for free, equality, equitable and inclusive public basic education in Ghana and ensure the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), she said.
In this regard, she said, Government must demonstrate strong political will and commitment to ensure quality education for all through concrete actions and work with teachers and education management towards the realisation of the Agenda 2030.
She said GNAT would continue to sensitize its members, demand the right to participate in the implementation of the agenda 2030 and ensure that targets were integrated into the National Education Agenda.
Ms Lindsay Freedman, Team Leader of CTF, commended the participants for the attentiveness during the workshop and asked them to share the knowledge they had acquired with their colleagues.
She said her outfit was committed to working towards a common goal of providing professional development to teachers in Ghana to sustain the achievement of quality education for all.
Source: GNA