Private schools doing better due to supervision, accountability, parents' involvement – Adutwum

The Deputy Minister in charge of Basic and Secondary Education, Dr Yaw Adutwum, has said the involvement of parents in the education of their children in private schools, coupled with accountability in those schools, is what accounts for the high success rates recorded by the pupils and students of private education institutions compared to those of the public schools.

Dr Adutwum was speaking on Kidz Zone on Class91.3FM on Saturday, 4 May 2019.

Dr Adutwum told show host Bishop Abraham Aidoo that: “There’re a number of factors, when we talk about private schools; parents are paying and invariably, those parents are more involved in the education of their children because they feel like: ‘I’m paying for this and you better sit down and learn. You know how I sew my clothes, and I paid your fees and you better sit down and study’”.

“Invariably”, he said: “There’s more communication going on between the parents and the school, and research has shown that parents’ involvement is very very important when it comes to education. Invariably, in the public school arena, we seem to cede the learning and teaching process to the teachers, to the schools, without our intimate involvement, and, of course, rightly so, because we seem to think that the teacher knows it all and once you’re going to school, you must be learning, that is just one aspect of it”.

Dr Adutwum also stated that the ability of private schools to stay in business is directly linked to the success of the students at the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) level, thus, the proprietors tend to make the most use of teachers even when unqualified, so as to ensure success.

“Another important aspect of the whole thing”, he said, “is what you’re describing as accountability”.

“In the private school”, Dr Adutwum explained, “the proprietors know that their ability to stay in business is linked with their opportunity to really get more students to pass the BECE, so, they do everything to make sure that happens because that is what the teacher is paid for”.

The deputy minister also noted that the level of monitoring done by the private sector as far as the education of the children is concerned, is not the same in the public schools.

“Can we get better BECE outcomes so that our children will go to the top schools in the country? That kind of pressure on the teacher to perform and also the close monitoring by the private sector, are not at the same level as the public sector.

“So, you can see, as you said that the teacher may not be the most qualified but the proprietor has an eagle eye [on him/her]. The supervision is key.”