The distribution of furniture for pre-tertiary institutions in the Upper East Region, North East Region, and other regions in northern Ghana has been plagued by what Raymond Ayinne, the external affairs manager for Afrikids, described as needless delays.
Speaking with Mark Smith of A1 Radio, Mr. Ayinne noted that in order to address the severe lack of furniture, it is crucial that the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the various Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) expedite the distribution of already-completed desks.
“You go to some of the district assemblies and you see furniture there, packed. When I was returning from the Mamprugu Moagduri District, in Fumbisi, there were some desks packed and I was worried because this is the same district that I have worked in where there is a significant furniture deficit. When you speak about it, they say they are being allocated. I thought that because of our dire situation, if you heard that you were receiving 200 dual desks, you would have done the allocation so that when you received the desks, in fact, before you receive the desks, start the allocation so that if there are schools who can benefit on the way to the assembly, let them receive their share.”
“The rains are coming and this furniture is not protected. It is just in the open space. I am not singling out the Builsa South District Assembly alone. If you go to Bongo, you will find a similar situation. Even in our own Bolgatanga Municipality, where we made a massive appeal under the MCE’s special initiative for furniture, you would find that if furniture comes, it takes a long time before they are deplored,” he said.
The government’s inability to allocate capitation grants to the several public pre-tertiary institutions also caused Mr. Ayinne to have serious concerns. According to him, the schools might be up to three terms in arrears, which if not resolved would keep them from performing necessary maintenance on their facilities.
On the same platform, Mr. Ayinne, expressed worry about the disruptive implementation of the Ghana School Feeding Programme in the Upper East Region.
The Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC) is a network of Civil Society Organizations that is committed to promoting access to an Inclusive Quality and Enjoyable Pre-tertiary Education as a fundamental human right.
Global Action Week (GAW) of Education is one of the coalition’s major yearly activities celebrating education in Ghana. The GAWE is an initiative of the Global Campaign for Education (GCE) of which GNECC is a member.
The celebration networks organisations and individuals interested in quality education worldwide to advocate for quality and equal education for all. While the government bears the greatest responsibility to ensure that everyone has an education, it is the duty of civil society in reminding governments not only of their commitments but also of their obligations toward ensuring education for all. As in the past, GNECC is leading the celebration of GAW 2023 in Ghana from 18-24 April 2023, under the global theme “Decolonizing Education Financing”.
Statistics from the 2021 Population and Housing Census (PHC) revealed that 1,215,546 children of school-going age (4 to 17 years) in Ghana are not attending school. Out of that number, almost one million (942,427) children have never attended school. The Savannah Region has 43.2 percent of children who have never attended a school which is the highest percentage in the country.
The Government of Ghana’s 12.9% budgetary allocation to the education sector in the 2023 national budget indicates an increase as compared to the 2022 allocation. However, this falls below the target Ghana has set for itself in 2021 during the Global Education Summit held in the United Kingdom where the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo, who is also the GPE champion for domestic financing for education, pledged to spend at least 23% of the national budget on education over the medium term from 2021 to 2025. This pledge was repeated in Ghana’s National Commitment Statement that was presented at the 2022 Transforming Education Summit. It is important to remind ourselves as a country of the need to fulfil these commitments that signify our collective efforts towards the achievement of the SDG 4 targets.
The Ministry of Education, in a bid to ensure education development in Ghana, organises the National Education Week (NEW) annually to assess the performance of the sector and plan for the next year. In lieu of this GNECC as a mouthpiece for CSOs in education in Ghana, organises a CSO independent assessment of the education sector meeting (Pre-NEW) with the participation of its members and partners, prior to the annual National Education Week.
The proposed national theme for the 2023 GAWE celebration in Ghana is dubbed: “Domestic Funding: Key to Sustainable Basic Education”. The theme is rotated in the Sustainable Development Goal 4 agenda: “Ensuring inclusive equitable quality education and life-long learning opportunities for all,” The coalition is of the view that just as a vehicle can hardly reach its destination without sufficient fuel so will the country not be able to achieve the above-mentioned goal without sound and sustainable domestic funding.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
