Executive Director of the Institute for Education Studies (IFEST), Dr Peter Anti, has described the solution to the issue of poor performance in government basic schools by Prof Stephen Adei, former rector of Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), as problematic and parochial.
According to him, sacking all the teaching staff in basic schools and employing new ones based on terms and conditions are not the holistic solutions to the challenge within the education sector. He revealed that although he agrees with some perspectives from the venerable Professor, his approach in general is not applicable to the problems within the sector.
“… His prescriptions for addressing the challenge of poor supervision, monitoring, and accountability are problematic and parochial.”
Dr Peter Anti
Dr Anti indicated that over the years, Prof Stephen Adei has reiterated what he calls a “radical” approach to addressing the falling standards of public basic education in Ghana. He noted that to the Professor, the solution lies in sacking all public basic school teachers and allowing head teachers to take the lead in the recruitment process.
He further stated that the former GIMPA rector has also called for intense supervision, monitoring, and accountability measures to ensure that the best is obtained from teachers. To this, Dr Anti stated that the educational challenges are multifaceted and must be tackled from various fronts to achieve substantial and sustainable results.
“Though his position might hold water in some aspects, it is also flawed in several areas. It is a grim reality that supervision, monitoring, and accountability are major problems in our public school system.”
Dr Peter Anti
Dr Anti explained that his experience with supervision and monitoring in basic schools in Ghana reveals a “sad experience for both internal and external supervisors”. He noted that internal supervisors are not only administrative leaders but in most instances are also instructional leaders.
This, he highlighted, mostly renders them very ineffective as some do not have the requisite skills in school management and administration, while others have very poor leadership skills and are not able to get the best out of their already poorly motivated staff.
“Also, to be very effective in supervising and monitoring, the delivery of quality education in a basic school [and] the internal supervisor should be well resourced.”
Dr Peter Anti
Commenting on the challenges within basic schools, Dr Anti commended Prof Adei for demanding that the heads of schools should be paid well. However, he revealed that the problem is not just about better remuneration but about providing the needed resources for these heads to be able to function effectively.
“An internal supervisor cannot be effective if the payment of the capitation grant is delayed for months which technically is the money needed to run the school administratively. The external supervisor also faces the same challenge of inadequate resources. Again, two very important variables of accountability which are the community, and the parents are now very inactive in the entire scheme of public basic schools.”
Dr Peter Anti
Addressing challenges confronting basis schools
The IFEST executive director conceded that government has succeeded in widening the inequality gap between public and private basic school learners and gradually collapsing the public basic school system. This, he explained, can never be repaired by focusing on only the teacher, as such, Prof Adei should, among other things, ask the government to prioritize spending efficiency, cut waste in the system, and channel resources to the foundation of our educational system.
Dr Anti emphasized that according to the Ghana Statistical Service, 7.9 million Ghanaians, who are six years and older cannot read and write with understanding. In light of this, he indicated that this can only be addressed with commitment from the relevant authorities to provide the needed resources at the basic level and not just by sacking teachers.
Additionally, he called on Professor Adei to charge on the government to increase and release the capitation grant to public basic schools on time.
“Advocate that there should be a national plan on how to address the school environmental and infrastructural challenges in public basic schools. With this, the Multidimensional Educational Resource Deprivation Index (MERDI) comes in handy. Join the call to the Ministry of Education to pay attention to the school-based data they have and follow through with an equitable distribution of educational resources and should not wait for media houses to prompt them.”
Dr Peter Anti
Furthermore, Dr Anti called for the reactivation of discussion on the decentralization of education in Ghana and the need for improved conditions of service for basic schoolteachers in the country.
Also, he noted that community leaders must be admonished to show maximum interest in public basic schools in their area, even as parents are advised to renew their commitment to their ward’s education.
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