Lack of funds affecting education delivery

Kumasi (Ash), March 18, GNA - Mr. Samuel Bannerman-Mensah, Director General of Education Service (GES), on Tuesday said lack of adequate funds and resources is the main problem affecting the service. "The major difficulty of the GES in its educational delivery efforts is that, 90 percent of resources are allocated to salary-related items leaving only 10 percent or less for non-salary expenditures," he noted. This, according to him, meant that vital resources, which must be available for effective and efficient delivery of education was lacking in schools and offices, resulting in poor quality services being rendered.

Mr. Bannerman-Mensah was speaking at the signing of a Performance Agreement between the GES and District Directors of Education at a ceremony in Kumasi.

The agreement, among others things, would serve as a legal framework to enable the various Directorates of Education nationwide, to focus on the achievement of outputs in their plans and mission statements. This is in line with the on-going Management Reform Programme of the GES to streamline the activities of the various Directorates. Under the agreement, the Directorates are to strengthen educational management at all levels of the GES, provide improved quality education that meets modern demands, make sure every Ghanaian child has equitable access to education and ensure that, the education provided places emphasis on science, technology and vocational training.

The Director-General admonished the Directorates to strive to ensure judicious use of funds and resources made available to their outfits to enable them achieve their educational targets and strategic objectives. He noted that, in order to ensure the success of the implementation under the Agreement, government has approved a total amount of GH¢ 805,588,250 to support the activities of the various Directorates, adding that the figure represented 72.8 percent of the sectors budget of GH¢ 1,097,897,530.

Mr. Robert Adu-Mante, Chairman of the GES council, indicated that the Agreement was in line with the general strategic plan of the GES in ensuring that all Ghanaian children of school going age were provided with high quality formal education and training through effective resource management to make education delivery relevant to the manpower needs of the nation.

He reminded the various Directorates that just as Best Teacher awards were given to hardworking classroom teachers, a similar package has been planned for Directors whose output or achievement rate lay between 90 and 100 percent under the Agreement. 18 March 08