Let’s support government to improve basic education – GES

Stephen Kwaku Owusu, Deputy Director-General, Management Services, Ministry of Education, has called on individuals and stakeholders to come together to support the government in improving the basic levels of education in Ghana.

He said the government was performing its duties in that regard, yet the basic levels of education in Ghana needed a lot of resources to facilitate their development.

Kwaku Owusu was speaking during the national launch of the 2023 Global Action Week celebration on education by the Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC) in Accra.

Speaking on the theme, “Domestic Funding: Key to Sustainable Basic Education,” Kwaku Owusu said, “in spite of all the government is doing, we are also calling on individuals, corporate bodies, and communities to collaborate with the government to get all the resources needed for the development.”

He noted that one major challenge facing the basic levels of education in Ghana was the lack of desks, and called on relevant stakeholders to donate desks to the basic schools facing such challenges as the government was working on such issues.

Kwaku Owusu noted the appeals from the special school and assured them that efforts were being made to get their grants paid as soon as possible.

Joshua Nyumuah, National Vice Chairman of GNECC, said day in and day out, the infrastructure for basic education kept deteriorating, and that, they were going to advocate for the government to respond and provide the resources.

He said the launch would be continued in the various regions through floats, mass education, and other radio discussions for everyone to be part of the education launch.

Joshua Nyumuah stated that, despite the increased access to education globally, it remained an inaccessible right for millions of children around the world due to poverty, marginalization, and financial deficit.

He added that “more than 72 million children of primary education age are not in school, and 759 million adults are illiterate and do not have the awareness necessary to improve both their living conditions and those of their children.

Joshua Nyumuah noted that the Government of Ghana’s 12.9 percent budgetary allocation to the education sector in the 2023 national budget indicated an increase as compared to the 2022 allocation.

“However, this falls below the target Ghana has set for itself in 2021 during the Education Summit held in the United Kingdom, where the President, Nana Dankwa Akuffo-Addo, who is also the GPE champion for domestic financing for education, pledged to spend at least 23 percent of the national budget on education the medium term from 2021 to 2025,” he added.

Nyumuah said the pledge was repeated in Ghana’s National Commitment Statement that was presented at the 2022 Transforming Education Summit.

He stressed the need to remind ourselves as a country to fulfill these commitments that signify our collective efforts towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal Four targets.

“In addition, basic education experienced about a 40 percent decline in budget allocation in 2023 as compared to 2022.,” Nyumuah added.

He also stated that the majority of public schools in Ghana still did not have access to textbooks to support teaching and learning in the classrooms.