4 Facts to show MoE is running education in Ghana without GES -IFEST

The Institute for Education Study (IFEST) in a press release dated 30th May 2022 has outlined 4 Facts to show MoE is running education in Ghana without GES.

It indicated the MoE’s sidelining of GES,  which is an implementation agency, is rendering the GES weak and inefficient.

The 4 Facts outlined by IFEST to show how the MoE is running education without GES are as follows.

#1 NATIONAL STANDARD TEST (NST): IFEST is reliably informed that the  GES just like many other institutions in the sector was not in favour of the mode in which the NST was to be conducted. This was against the National Learning  Assessment Framework and its associated Operational Plan of making the NST  a school-based diagnostic test instead of a WAEC conducted external examination. Against all sound advice, the Ministry went ahead with the test,  the conduct of which was characterized by confusion. Almost six months down the line, WAEC is in still struggling to produce a single result because most students did not shade the paper, as per our investigations.

READ: Ministry of Education is weakening the GES – IFEST to MoE

#2. SCHOOL CALENDAR: For some time now, we have been experiencing an erratic academic calendar which is uncharacteristic of our pre-tertiary education sector. The GES has been responsible for the school academic calendar all these years, however, recently, the Ministry set up a committee to produce what they said was going to produce a long-lasting stable academic calendar. The end result of this decision is a matter of public record.

#3. RECRUITMENT OF HEADS: Documents available to IFEST reveal that far-reaching decisions were made on the recruitment of Heads for newly completed STEM schools. This was resisted by the teacher unions. Although the Ministry refuted this claim, there is enough documentation that points to the fact that NAGRAT was right in their claim. It is obvious that this activity does not lie within the mandate of the Ministry.

#4. GALOP BROUHAHA: The conversation on the GALOP Teacher Training issue clearly cements our proposition that the Ministry of education is gradually juggling the role of policy formulation and implementing agency, and this presents the GES as inefficient. It is clear from the correspondence from the World Bank, The GES, and the Press Statements from the Ministry that the GES which is mandated to undertake this teacher training exercise was sidelined in the entire process. Without impugning any motives, IFEST cannot fathom how such a project could be purported to have been carried out without the explicit knowledge and involvement of the GES.

READ: I’m not a corrupt Education Minister – Adutwum reacts to $1.2 Million scandal

The institute asserted that if the Ministry of Education continues to run education in Ghana without GES, it will “kill morale within the GES and put the implementation of a lot of policies in the education sector, especially at the Pre-Tertiary level in complete disarray as it has been witnessed in some instances.”

It further called on the MoE as a matter of urgency to show leadership, and ensure proper coordination and functioning of the  GES and MoE which as critical institutions in education delivery in the country at the Pre-Tertiary level.

The institute charged President Nana Addo to step in and “ensure that the investments made in the education sector do not go down the drain because of the lack of coordination between these two critical institutions.”