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Finance Minister-designate making promising statements
Ken Ofrofi-Atta, President-elect Akufo-Addo’s pick for Finance Minister, has said he will alter the current system where teachers work for two years after being posted by the Ghana Education Service (GES) before they receive their salaries. Orofi-Atta seems to recognize the importance of education and the power of incentives. “Education is such a crucial part of where we want to go as a country, and I don’t think we can begin to shortchange teachers… so we’ll do all we can to ensure that the social contract that we have with teachers will be maintained,” he said. The topic of teacher arrears has come up often recently as teachers unions and the government publicly argue over the status quo.
GNAT pleased with GES
In what has become somewhat of a rarity, the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) has applauded the GES for a recent move which seeks to reduce corruption and reduce delays due to document processing. Commonsense though it may seem, the directive instructs all regional and district directors to cease from the practice of demanding money from GES employees prior to processing documents. Additionally, the directive states that all documents ought to be forwarded to the national headquarters in 48 hours or less. Simple or not, progress is progress.
Quality over quantity
Much has been made over President-elect Akufo-Addo’s hope to make education free in Ghana. A lengthy op-ed made the case that while a free education system would certainly be a step in the right direction in terms of national development, increasing the quality of education is a more effective play. “Quality education is the foundation upon which enlightened societies and civilizations are built,” the author writes. The anti-rote learning argument isn’t a new one; however, the article does a solid job of explaining the logic.
Also…
The GES has suspended all transfers, for teachers and non-teachers staff, effective immediately.
Reverend Cyril Fayose is lobbying to amend the GETFund law to cover infrastructure development in private tertiary institutions.
The National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) are supportive of Akufo-Addo’s pick of Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh for Minister of Educaiton.
The Brookings Institute recently released its “Foresight Africa” report for 2017. In it, Brookings encouraged African governments to adapt education curriculums to be better suited for a digital world.
Employees of Airtel Ghana volunteered to welcome students back to school for spring term.
Senior lecturer at the University of Education Winneba (UEW) is pushing for more education on child trafficking at the basic level.
GES closed schools in Kumasi on Thursday, January 19th to “ensure a smooth funeral rite of the late Asantehemaa Nana Afia Serwaa Kobi Ampem II.”
A student of the Ghana Senior High School in Koforidua died on campus after a tree fell on him.