Do not rush in implementing GPS Project – GNECC

The Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC), a civil society organization committed to educational development, has asked government to be circumspect in implementing the proposed Ghana Partnership Schools (GPS) Project.

“We should not rush in rolling out the project since it is not in the best interest of the nation,” Mr. Festus Longmatey, the Programmes Officer of GNECC, stated.

“One of the major disadvantages of public-private-partnership (PPP) projects is its unrealistic nature. They can always be piloted, but never replicated due to the high cost of managing them,” he noted.

Mr. Longmatey was delivering a paper at a stakeholders’ workshop in Kumasi on the topic: “Addressing Inequalities in Ghana’s Basic Education System towards the Achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4”.

The day’s programme was organized under the auspices of the GNECC with participants drawn from the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), National Association of Graduate Teachers, media organizations, as well as civil society organizations committed to quality educational delivery.

Under the GPS Project, anticipated to be implemented in September this year, a total of 100 selected public schools in the Ashanti, Northern, Central and Greater Accra Regions would be handed over to private school operators to manage.

Mr. Longmatey pointed out that the proposed per unit cost of education under the Project was about 20 per cent more than the current cost government incurred.

“This means that, PPPs are 20 per cent more expensive than the regular schools managed by the Ghana Education Service,” he said.

Information reaching the Coalition, he stressed, indicated that PPP managers under the Project shall have the right to cause the transfer of teachers if they feel they are not fit for purpose.

They could also bring in their own resources to improve the delivery of education, one of the justifications given by government for introducing the GPS Project.

However, he said, evidence from all African countries suggested that that justification had never been met as governments ended up spending their own money as extra resources.

Mr. Mark Owusu, Ashanti Regional Chairman of the GNECC, said education was a fundamental human right and building for equal societies.

He, therefore, advocated the mobilization of the needed resources towards educational development at all levels to create access for all to enjoy the benefits thereof as the nation strived to achieve the SDG 4.