‘Set up board to oversee establishment of private schools’
The Minister of Education, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyeman, has advocated the establishment of a quality assurance accreditation board that will put together guidelines to control the setting up of private schools.
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She said such a body should be composed of professionals in the education sector who are well-versed in the field, to be able to come up with rules and regulations to ensure strict compliance by the private sector.
Prof. Opoku-Agyeman made the proposal when she opened a three-day workshop in Accra last Monday.
The conference was organised by Education International (EI), an umbrella body of more than 400 education unions and organisations whose members are mainly teachers and educational experts, numbering 32.5 million across the globe.
Prof. Opoku-Agyeman said the proposed board should put together plans that would address issues, including ‘’the number of people who can establish schools and the syllabi they should run in their respective schools,” she added.
Issues to be discussed
The biennial conference usually brings together experts in the sector and teachers, to deliberate on and find lasting solutions to the challenges educational institutions all over the world battle with constantly.
This year’s conference, also known as the 10th Further and Higher Education and Research Conference, will shed light on transversal themes such as academic freedom, privatisation and international solidarity.
Participants will also examine the measures global leaders, particularly African leaders, are putting in place to ensure that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on education are achieved.
The minister lauded the organisers of the programme for their focus on research, which she said was critical in education.
“A lot of time, you’ll find that people criticise teachers and make their own opinions as facts for the rest of the world to believe, without basing such opinions on hard core evidence or facts,” she noted.
Exploitation
Later in an interview, the President of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Mr Christian Addai-Poku, added his voice to the call for the proper regulation of the activities of private schools.
He said the commercialisation of education by some of the private schools was making it difficult for many people to access education, while some parents were exploited by the system because of their desire to give their children good education. He called for a change to the situation.
“We are seeing a trend where government is ceding its responsibilities to the private sector, thereby making education inaccessible and costly for the poor,” he stated.