Education is our priority - Gov't

Government will prioritize and expand access to education in all levels under President John Dramani Mahama, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning Mr. Seth Terkper has said.

He said measures would be put in place to monitor the quality of educational service delivery at all levels of the educational system.

“With specific reference to basic education, the Mahama administration would ensure that every child gets a head start by working to effectively and practically integrate kindergarten education into the existing system,” he added.

The Minister made these remarks when he presented the 2013 budget statement and economic policy to Parliament on Tuesday.

He stated that district assemblies would be required to incrementally build new structures in all existing public schools to serve the needs of kindergarten education.

Mr Terkper said the objective of President Mahama’s Administration was to eliminate the remaining schools under trees by the end of 2016, enforce compulsory basic school attendance and deepen pro-poor interventions like the distribution of free school uniforms, free exercise books and free computers.

He said the President would reward outstanding educational service providers to boost morale in the sector, work to achieve gender parity in education and work towards standardization and affordability in fees.

He stressed that the school-feeding programme would progressively expand this initiative to all public basic schools in rural communities to satisfy the basic nutritional needs of the pupils.

Mr Terpker said President Mahama’s administration was committed to tackling the major challenges facing education at the secondary level such as lack of access occasioned by inadequate space and facilities for the large number of qualified Junior High School graduates.

“We would construct a total of two hundred new community day senior high schools giving priority to districts which currently lack such schools in the next four years”.

He said in some few months, government would roll out a special sandwich teacher educational training programme targeted at unemployed graduates, in preparation for the full implementation of the access to secondary education programme.

He stated that programmes to modernize and increase the number of colleges with special emphasis on deprived areas and communities would be implemented for teachers in the ten decentralized satellite campuses across the country.

He said government would facilitate the completion of ongoing construction of assessment centres and equip the special education units with the necessary teaching and learning aids including devices for the hearing and visually impaired.

“We intend to emphasize inclusive education by ensuring that our children with special needs are fully integrated into our society through the educational arrangements.”

He said Government would provide incentives for special educators and ensure children-with-special-needs benefit from the advantages of modern technology.

Mr. Terkper said by the third quarter of 2013, they would initiate a Bill for Parliamentary consideration towards the establishment of a new university in the Eastern Region committed to Sustainable Environmental Development and Research.

He said the 10 existing polytechnics would receive special support while expanding degree-awarding courses.