Okyenhene questions Ghana’s centralized education system

Okyenhene Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin says Ghana’s centralized education system has contributed to its falling standards.

The Akyem Abuakwa monarch fears this old system if not reviewed, could exacerbate the situation.

Adding his voice to an engagement between the National House of Chiefs and officials of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) on the development of secondary education curriculum Okyenhene said:”Everywhere that I have been, schools are not centralized. Schools must be left in the hands of local people.

“You[NaCCa]are here speaking to us but when I go back, I have no control over who comes to teach people in Akyem…Systems that built 4.5million people cannot be applied at the time when we are 31 million. We cannot sit in Accra and centralize government and control schools in Bolga”, he added.

He further called on education authorities to increase their investment in the teaching profession to help promote quality education in the public sector.

“Equipment and state-of-the-art buildings and computers don’t teach our children, people do. The teaching profession has not become attractive…Teachers are great assets to a country’s development and we must invest in them”.

The purpose of the engagement was to inform Nananom of the progress made in the development of the senior high school curriculum and also to collate their suggested inputs to help in its finalization.

Deliberations among participants were unanimous that Ghana’s curriculum required systematic changes to reflect rapid global changes, trends and complexities. It was also agreed that the SHS curriculum should reflect practical education, competencies, and skills education among others.

Director-General of NaCCA Prof Edward Appiah who led his team to Kumasi thanked Nananom for their commitment towards the government’s curriculum reform agenda.