Western Region reviews education sector
Mr. Ebenezer Teye Addo, Western Regional Minister, on Tuesday called on teachers and stakeholders to express their views on the implementation of the compulsory aspect of free education.
He made the call during the opening of the 2012/2013 Western Regional Education Sector Review Meeting at Fijai, near Takoradi.
The theme for the meeting is “Building a high-performing pre-tertiary education system in Ghana”.
Mr. Addo said the compulsory aspect of free education has been forgotten and “We only talk about the willingness of some children to go to school and the lack of concern by parents of these children to ensure that they go to school”.
Mr. Addo asked the review meeting to give thought to this as its unique contribution towards the educational expansion and development of the country.
He said the sad fact is that some parents are not enthused about the performance of their children who enter and pass out of public basic educational system.
Mr. Addo said, “Parents as stakeholders have a responsibility to show interest and concern for the education of their children”, adding, “This interest will serve as encouragement and motivation to them to learn hard”.
He urged the community to take the education of their children seriously particularly in this technological age where there are so many attractions for young children, since it is the only legacy that can be bequeathed to children and cannot be taken away from them in their entire life.
Mr. Addo exhorted teachers not to belittle the teaching profession and to endeavor to develop themselves even on the job, since there are various opportunities available to them to do so through distance education programmes being offered by the universities.
In an address read for her, Ms. Benedicta Naana Biney, Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), said the review is a strategy to assess how well various educational programmes have been implemented.
She said the review is also to evaluate the targets for ensuring equitable access, delivery of quality education and ensuring gender parity at the various levels.
Ms. Biney said management efficiency in deploying human and human resources towards achieving set targets has to be appraised, and that, one of the ways that the Ghana Education Service, Ministry of Education and Development Partners have sought to give practical expression to transform communities, is to provide access to good quality pre-tertiary education for all children of school going age.
Ms. Biney said children need to be better prepared by their schools to read, write, think critically and solve numerical problems because these skills are the foundations on which further studies, job satisfaction, productivity and meaningful citizenship are based.
She asked the review meeting to focus on the five pillars, which have been considered critical for the education sector to meet the Education for All Fast Track Initiative and the Millennium Development Goals.
Ms. Biney said the pillars are, increasing equitable access to and participation in education at all levels, Improving quality of teaching and learning, improving access to quality education for persons with disabilities and improving management of education service delivery.
Mr. Augustus Nii Lante Cleland, Western Regional Director of Education, said recommendations made at the Regional Review meetings will form the basis for the preparation of the National Education Sector Annual Review Report.
He said the meeting will be reviewing the revised draft Education Strategic Plan (ESP) and hoped several issues will emerge out of the thematic group discussions and that useful recommendations will be made to move education in the region and the country as a whole forward.
Source: GNA