‘Guard against sacrificing quality education for quantity’
The Catholic Bishop of Sunyani, the Most Reverend Matthew Gyamfi, has cautioned that while it is possible for the government to implement the free senior high school (SHS) policy, it must make every effort to guard against sacrificing quality for quantity.
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“Like the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), free SHS is a laudable idea that will make many young people be included in SHS education. Again, like the NHIS, do not let us forget that free SHS is going to be very challenging, knowing all well the strength of our fragile economy and its associated weaknesses,” he said.
The Most Rev. Gyamfi was delivering a paper at the 24th annual meeting of the Conference of Directors of Education (CODE) at Abesim, near Sunyani, yesterday.
The theme for the event was: “Providing equitable and inclusive education for the youth: The gateway to life-long opportunities.”
In his delivery, which earned the bishop a standing ovation from the gathering, the Most Rev. Gyamfi stated that education delivery for the youth could not and should never be on the principle of: ‘this is the best we are capable of giving you — take it or leave it’.
Rather, he suggested that the principle should be: ‘We provide all needs of our youth to give them the best education there can be.’
That, according to him, was important since the quality of education for the youth in the country should be comparable to the quality of education for their contemporaries everywhere in the world.
Partnership
Most Rev. Gyamfi therefore, suggested that the state should consider granting the freedom to and encouraging parent-teacher associations (PTAs), old students associations and philanthropists to contribute generously to the schools to complement the state’s efforts to implement the free SHS policy.
“For example, the state can accept and strengthen the partnership with the church in education delivery,” he said, explaining that: “Such a partnership will, as it did in the past, contribute significantly to providing equitable and inclusive education for the youth.”
“After all, the free SHS is not free. It is financed by parents and guardians’ money which the state only dispenses on behalf of the people. If what we contribute is not enough, the state cannot offer ‘free’ SHS,” he intimated.
Bishop Gyamfi said it was a fact that the state had not paid utility bills and allowances due some basic schools for a while, adding: “We should, therefore, be realistic about what the state can realistically provide from the common purse and allow individuals and others to help in their own way.”
Inclusive education and stakeholders
The Catholic Bishop said inclusive education meant that all stakeholders were included in all decisions on major educational policies.
“While politicians should be setting the general agenda of education as a tool for the development of the nation, the execution of educational plans should be left in the hands of educators, with the state providing the necessary resources for implementation.
“It is only then that public accountability will require that educators and the public schools act in the interest of the public, and they should be made answerable to the public for what is taught and for the quality of the experiences they provide to students,” he stated.
Equitable access to all
The Most Rev. Gyamfi said intensifying the existing policies and initiatives, such as the free compulsory universal basic education (FCUBE), girl-child education, the capitation grant, the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP), the free school uniforms and the free SHS, which were designed to encourage school enrolment, retention and completion rates would change the way Ghana’s marginalised children were perceived, served and included in the educational system.
To create an even-playing field for economic opportunity, he said, the youthful population needed access to high-quality educational options.
He explained that the provision of inclusive education was, however, not simply about making it available to those who were already able to access them.
“Inclusive education is also about being proactive in identifying the barriers and obstacles learners encounter in attempting to access quality education, as well as in removing those barriers and obstacles that lead to exclusion,” he said.
