School for Life (SfL), a non-governmental organisation focused on education development, has raised concerns over the failure of the Ghana Education Service (GES) in the Talensi District to regularly organise public accountability forums for residents to assess education delivery and raise concerns.
According to the organisation, the absence of such engagements has limited opportunities for parents and other community members to hold education authorities accountable and seek solutions to challenges affecting schools in the district.
Speaking at a stakeholders’ forum in Tongo, the District Field Officer for School for Life’s Citizen-Led Action for Educational Accountability and Responsiveness in Ghana (CLEAR) project, Dorcas Zoogah, said regular engagement between education authorities and communities was essential to improving education delivery.
She explained that although GES was expected to provide opportunities for citizens to raise concerns and receive updates on education delivery, such engagements had not been taking place regularly in the district.
“Since we’ve been in the district, we realized that this has not really been happening. And this is so bad because there’s a need for it. Visiting the communities, we see how bad some of the situations are. And every time parents and citizens keep lamenting,” she said.
Mrs Zoogah said School for Life had been implementing the CLEAR project in 10 communities in Talensi since 2022, educating residents on their rights and responsibilities in education and the roles of institutions responsible for education delivery.
She explained that the project was intended to empower citizens to demand accountability and take appropriate action when challenges affecting their children’s education remained unresolved.
However, she said the organisation recognised the need to extend the benefits of the project beyond the 10 participating communities.
“The project has helped the 10 communities in Talensi district, but we realize that opening only the 10 communities’ eye, it’s not the best. So this particular forum, in partnership with GES, we brought communities across Talensi, not only the CLEAR communities, to come and participate.”
Mrs Zoogah described the forum as productive, explaining that it provided an opportunity for parents and other stakeholders to better understand their respective responsibilities in improving education delivery.
She stressed that addressing challenges in schools required collaboration among GES, the District Assembly, headteachers, School Management Committees (SMCs), Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) and parents.
The Talensi District Director of Education, Christiana Azure Ayinzoya, commended School for Life for organising the forum and providing a platform for residents to engage education authorities.
She also used the occasion to brief stakeholders on developments in the district’s education sector and the efforts being made to address challenges affecting schools.
The forum brought together representatives of communities across the district, including those outside the 10 communities participating in the CLEAR project.
A1 Radio | 101.1 MHz | David Azure | Talensi
