Digitise education accountability mechanisms to prevent errors – Haffar
Mr. Anis Haffar, Board Chairperson, National Teaching Council, has called for the digitalisation of educational accountability mechanisms to prevent errors.
He said educational accountability mechanisms, notably teachers’ performance, students’ performance, and school inspection, could be measured through digitalised systems.
The board chair was speaking on a panel discussion on the theme, “The Education Accountability Framework,” which congregated a wealth of expertise within the educational sector.
The principles underpinning the education accountability framework which include accountability for learning processes, should drive improvements in learning outcomes, and all levels of the education system must be held accountable.
The education accountability framework clearly defines the roles, responsibilities and expectations of key players in the education systems.
Mr. Haffar said teachers in the past struggled with accountability measures, notably attendance books, as they were unable to keep records of students.
The inability to keep records of students, he noted, was occasioned by teachers misplacing students’ records.
Thus, stakeholders must prioritise the incorporation of digital systems, such as education management information systems, to prevent such challenges and improve education accountability mechanisms.
“We are in a digital age, so we have to begin to look at how we can move these educational accountability measures like the attendance book from a manual structure to a digital structure,’’
“The digital systems help to allay all fears and keep up-to-date in real-time data in terms of the performance of every student who is in school and the attendance of every teacher in every school, “he said.
Mrs. Philippa Larsen, an educationist, urged the Government to incorporate data in teacher deployments across the country.
She said the incorporation of data would prevent the overstaffing and understaffing of educational institutions.
She urged the Government to employ indigenous people as teachers in their localities, noting that indigenous people could facilitate a favourable learning outcome since they live and speak the language of the community they teach.
Mr. Charls Ahetor Tsegah, Technical Advisor, Ghana Education Campaign Coalition, said community pressure played a major role in the educational accountability mechanism framework.
He said community members must exert enough pressure on heads of the education institutions to improve learning outcomes.
Source: GNA