“Mr Speaker, it is sad to note that some heads were reprimanded for asking parents to pay PTA levies. The decision to prevent parents from contributing towards their children’s education has rundown some schools because PTA remained the backbone for the development of some schools.
“Mr Speaker, Ghana’s international reputation in the field has suffered a setback due to pervasive decline in standards, diminishing the country’s credibility and competitiveness on the global stage. According to the 2018 world development report, Ghana was ranked 2nd to last on education globally. This has placed Ghana amongst worst countries on education worldwide.”
Hamza Adams
Hamza Adams
He emphasized that the Ghanaian educational system is at risk of producing underprepared graduates who will lack crucial skills for social, economic, cultural, and health-related development. Honorable Adams called for immediate measures to be taken to address the pressing issues within the educational system. Specifically, he urged a revitalization of the neglected basic school level, emphasizing the need for essential resources and infrastructure such as teachers, school furniture, and teaching materials.
Additionally, he recommended that the government promptly empower Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) to actively participate in the sector.
“Government cannot sustain the sector alone…this is an alarming cause to worry about”, he stressed.
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Other Concerns In The Sector
Furthermore, Honorable Zenator Rawlings, Member of Parliament for the Klottey-Korle Constituency, added her voice to the concerns raised by Professor Hamza Adams.
“Mr Speaker, with regards to the teaching staff, it would be very important that government actually considers deliberate attempts to find brilliant persons in school and lead them onto the path of the teaching profession in order to ensure that we have the best quality of minds in imparting knowledge to our children.
Zenator Rawlings
“Mr speaker, the problems identifies in the statement actually point to why we are seeing a drop in standards across board in our educational institutions and a heavy burden is being placed on parents and on old students to actually support students in the schools and the running of schools which is not what we actually expect to hear in the event that we now have free senior high school.”
Zenator Rawlings
She pointed out the alleged suppression of dissent in education, expressing concern that instead of punishing those who speak up, it should be an opportunity to improve the country’s education system.
Additionally, she highlighted the strain on educational infrastructure nationwide due to the government’s lack of commitment to proactively build to accommodate the demand created by its policies.
Honorable Zenator emphasized that if Ghana has a whistleblower act, individuals within the educational sector raising concerns should be viewed as problem solvers rather than troublemakers. She urged the sector minister to acknowledge the issues and resist over-politicization of the sector.
Various Members of Parliament expressed similar concerns which led to a review of the sector on the directive of the Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Honorable Alban Bagbin.
However, the Minister for Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum dispensed the idea that standards are falling notwithstanding the Speaker’s appeal for him to engage the statement more objectively.
