Kofi Asare, executive director of Africa Education Watch, has criticized district directors of the Ghana Education Service (GES) for remaining mute and being timid while the government refuses to provide them money to operate the nation’s primary public schools.
Mr. Asare bemoaned the fact that despite facing financial difficulties, these district directors have been reluctant to demand funding for the management of their schools, choosing instead to watch as parents are asked to pay for expenses related to their children’s education that the government ought to cover.
He gave the example of a parent-paid examination cost, even though the government is supposed to cover it.
erved that district directors have been passive and mute about the absence of funding for basic schools, in contrast to senior high school principals who persistently seek monies to run their institutions.
Here is his whole statement:
I once again have a list of District Education Directorates that gathered GHC 15 or less from students to administer end-of-term examinations in public elementary schools. This is not news at all—it is the usual! Everyone, from the Ghana Education Service to the Ministry of Education GH, is aware yet silent since they have no other choice.
The District Directors assert that the government has not supplied any funds for the exam, as is customary. As far as I know, Ken only allocated 12% of the Capitation & Base Grant needed for this year.
Although I am not opposed to parental involvement in basic education, I will continue to state that the GES, which is a division of the MOE, is in charge of funding exams through the Capitation Grant.
According to Article 38 of the Constitution, denying basic school funding and letting instructors levy parents to pay for final exams is against the policy of free, universal, and obligatory basic education.(2).
District Directors should have the guts to tell the government that they cannot manage basic schools with PR rather than constantly preying on low-income parents and demanding money to pay for basic education despite the government’s lack of commitment.
To succeed, district directors of education must take risks and incorporate lessons from CHASS. A “state of emergency” is immediately declared under the free SHS by CHASS.
To succeed, district directors of education must take risks and incorporate lessons from CHASS. When CHASS “shouts” under the free SHS, the MoE promptly declares a “state of emergency” out of concern for the shutdown of the SHS. Money is quickly discovered out of nowhere and thrown at them.
The District Directors in charge of overseeing basic education are being cowardly, and this will only make the government more passive in regards to providing funding for it.
At the elementary school level, leadership is far too hesitant to elicit a supportive reaction from the government.
Nothing can arise from nothing!
