9: Ghanaian Education Weekly Review (10/2 – 10/8)

APC takes a shot

The APC has taken a shot at its larger counterparts, the NDC and the NPP, alleging they have promoted poor education policies. In an interview, the General Secretary of the APC, Razak Opoku, argued that the two leading parties have taken the wrong approach to education by focusing only on increasing the number of schools. Contrarily, the APC “are thinking about the educational curriculum, making sure that the STEM take centre-stage in our educational curriculum.” Additionally, Opoku said the APC policy would focus on price control.

 

IMANI thinks Mahama has done okay

The policy think-tank IMANI has reviewed the Mahama/NDC administration’s ability to carry out its promises. According to IMANI, the government has performed adequately, following through on about 53% of its 540 promises (sort of disheartening that the barometer for success is this low, but that’s an entirely different conversation). While still below the 80% success rate the NDC claims, it is still definitely higher than what other parties have claimed. The review looked at promises on the economy, governance, education, social policy, and infrastructure. The government scored best on education with a 69.4%.

 

Former GES Director unimpressed

IMANI might be mildly impressed, but not everyone is. Former Director of Ghana Education Services (GES), Michael Nsowah, put it bluntly: the people in charge of education “are not qualified.” Nsowah found the current administrations delaying teacher salaries particularly disheartening. And he was prepared for the counter-argument that those teachers have not been verified; they have not gotten clearance. He argues that the lack of verification is also a sign of government incompetence “because it has never happened in our history.” He went on to say that people who make that argument are missing the point anyways: “A teacher works for two years but has not been paid, and we think it is normal. Nobody appreciates the teacher or what they have done.” His point being that it’s not just the unverified teachers who aren’t getting paid and it’s not just the lack of payments that is a problem, it’s the systemic underappreciation for teachers.

 

Silver lining?

Well, it looks like the underwhelming WASSCE scores of students hoping for university acceptance were not repeated by the younger students seeking entry to SHS. According to the Jacob Kor, Director-General of the GES, some candidates have made history this year with their high scores on the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), the Ghanaian equivalent to the SAT. Nearly 4,000 (~1% of candidates) students scored over 500 out of 600 in all six subjects.

 

Delivery is key

Transforming Teacher Education and Learning (T-Tel), the government education support program, has set up a fund to help colleges of education implement training that will improve leadership management and training of teachers. More specifically, the fund has been used to target education delivery skills among teachers-in-training. Important to note is that initiative provides financial incentives for partnerships: if multiple colleges group together to present particular concepts they will receive extra funding. The fund holds GH₡ 5 million, and thus far, 23 of the 38 government colleges of education have received disbursements.

 

Putting an emphasis on early Ed

The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) has encouraged the GES to think more about Kindergarten and Lower Primary education. GNAT Acting President, Philippa Larsen, voiced concerns over the way that teachers are staffed in the early stages of the education system, stressing the importance of getting students education careers off on the right foot. Larsen cited “sub-standard teacher preparation programs and recruitment of unqualified personnel… and poor salaries and working conditions” when framing her regretful cynicism.

 

Also…

Ghana celebrates teachers on International Teachers’ Day: “without well-qualified, inspiring teachers, a school is just a building, books and clothes are just for show and attendance at school doesn’t translate into good quality education.”

President Mahama pleaded with the Ministry of Education (MOE), GES, and other stakeholders to quit blaming each other and focus on improving the quality of teachers.

GES pushes back against claims it has barred teachers from talking to the media.

NPP VP Candidate refutes claims that he has personally benefited from NDC education subsidies/scholarships.