Wealth can be created through quality education - Bagbin

Kumasi, Feb 2, GNA - Mr Bertinus Bagbin, Offinso South Municipal Director of Education said the government's vision to create wealth could only be realized if quality education was provided to all children without discrimination. To achieve this, he said, the Ministry of Education (MOE) had placed emphasis on primary education with the framework of the Education Strategic Plan (ESP) and the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS II). Mr Bagbin made the observation at a day's workshop for 40 Directors of Education and some Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO's) in the Ashanti region on the draft Complementary Basic Education Policy (CBE) in Kumasi on Thursday.

The Ministry of Education in collaboration with the Ghana Education Service (GES) organised the workshop with support from the United Nations International Children and Education Fund (UNICEF). Mr Bagbin disclosed that about 800,000 school going age children which formed about 20 percent of national enrolment, were still out of school. He therefore welcomed the Complementary Basic Education (CBE) system that would open up attractive and equitable educational opportunities for the unfortunate children. The CBE, Mr Bagbin explained, would provide structured programmes of learning outside the formal school system to enable them to acquire minimum knowledge and skills for continuing education in the formal sector. He said this would offer a second opportunity for the category of children to access mainstream education.

Mr Joseph Kwabena Onyinah, Ashanti Regional Director of Education said various interventions to improve access and participation have yielded positive impact. He indicated that with 67.7 percent completion rate in 2008, there was the need to increase enrolment and retention to reduce dropout rate.

Mr Onyinah, however, noted that it was not realistic to achieve 100 percent retention and zero percent drop out rate and called for a convenient and practical system to mop up the school drop outs and the school going age children who are not in school. Mrs Comfort Bandoh, District Director of Education for Afigya Sekyere, who presided, said the most challenging issue with the implementation of the CBE policy was funding and emphasised the replacement of cost-sharing measures with all stakeholders.