Education reforms favour provision of structures - Zan

Tamale, May 20, GNA - Mr Samuel Zan, Country Director of SEND Foundation of West Africa, an NGO, has said education reforms had favoured the overhauling of structures and the introduction of new systems and procedures.

He said there could never be a change in the education sector if the key actors such as teachers, who were supposed to implement the reforms, ''are lost in the transformation equation.'' Mr Zan was speaking on the theme: "Attitudinal Change for Education Progress and Development in Ghana: The Role of the Teacher," at the second quadrennial delegates' conference of the Tamale Metropolitan branch of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) in Tamale on Thursday.

Mr Zan said indiscipline among teachers and pupils was pervasive as absenteeism, lateness and drunkenness were identified in all the districts covered under the assessment. He said teachers often engaged pupils in personal errands during official school hours while supervision and monitoring of their work had been relaxed.

"Many teachers refuse to accept postings to deprived communities with the excuse that there is no job satisfaction in the teaching profession in those areas". Mr Zan said there had been over centralization of decision-making at the headquarters of the Ghana Education Service, rendering officials at the regional and district levels ineffective leading to delays in action on important issues.

"For any progress to be made in the education sector there is a dire need for change and transformation and this should be focused on qualitative changes that would thrive on new mindsets and values of people who are the principal agents of any change process", he said. Mr Zan said the human factor appeared to be the key to change and development, whether organizational, social, economic or political.