Government urged to support private schools

Ho, Aug. 16. GNA - Mr Godwin Sowah, President of the Ghana National Association of Private School, on Tuesday urged the Government to develop schemes to support private schools as a practical demonstration of the high value it placed on the quality performance of that segment of the education sector.

There is strong evidence that government seriously appreciates and values the contributions of private schools about which it should be bold and come out openly to support not necessarily with cash. Mr Sowah said such support was essential to enable private schools to establish in pri-urban, rural and remote areas because the truth was that it was not going to be easy for the government to put all her resources into pre-basic and basic education even if donors and development partners prescribed it.

He explained that though the introduction of the capitation grant and the Schools Feeding Programme had attracted many children to school there was still very many such children who needed to be in school. Mr Sowah was, however, averse to the extension of the capitation grant to private schools as advocated by some proprietors of such schools and said if private schools took the grant could mean floating shares to the government in the business and that could have certain implications in the future.

Mr Sowah observed that increased school enrolment should go along with quality teaching and learning for quality Basic Education Certificate of Education (BECE) results otherwise it would be an exercise in futility and a wasteful financial sacrifice.

Mr Sowah said such financial resources could then have been better utilized to provide more infrastructures for schools such as teachers' bungalows, teaching aids as well as technical and vocational tools and equipment.

Mr Joseph Nayan, Deputy Volta Regional Minister, said private schools had proved their credibility through high standards, competitiveness and outstanding performances.

He said the quality performance of private schools and the access they continued to create for many children make the sector an invaluable stakeholder with Government in implementing its policies to provide access and quality education to children in the country. The Ho Municipal Director of Education, Mr Francis Korwu testified to the excellent performance and dominance of private school pupils in competitive examinations in the country.

He said such achievements notwithstanding some private schools in the Municipality needed to give attention to the improvement of their infrastructure such as playing fields, classrooms furniture and access roads.

Some other sore points he drew the private schools' attention to included failure of some of them to register with the Education Directorate, consistent failure to submit information on their schools to enable the Directorate to keep track of their performances. Mr Korwu said private schools in the Municipality generally did not take part in extra co-curriculum activities thus limiting the ability of their pupils to fully develop their talents.

Mr Korwu advised private the schools to establish cordial relationship so as to identify their common problem and to share ideas and experiences.

Togbe Kwaku Ayim IV, Fiaga of Ziavi and a retired Educationist, said though the ultimate aim of private schools owners was to make profit it would be necessary for them to benefit from Ghana Education Trust Fund and the capitation grant.

This, he said, was because the pupils and student in such schools like children in public schools were entitled to enjoy the right to State support in education and as citizens they were being trained to satisfy the human resources needs of the country.