I’ll collaborate with teacher unions to develop education — Mahama

The flag bearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Mahama, has said he looks forward to collaborating with teacher unions and other stakeholders to develop effective policies for the education sector. 

Together, he said they could build a better and more inclusive education system for children and the future of the nation. Mr Mahama said this when he interacted with the teacher unions in Accra.

He emphasised the importance of conducting an educational reform in his first 100 days in office and the integral role of teachers in national policy reforms. “My administration will focus on adopting ‘first language’ as a medium of instruction from KG to Basic 3 and training more teachers in major local languages to facilitate teaching and learning at the basic levels,” he said.

To encourage reading at the basic level, Mr Mahama said the NDC plans to build more libraries and resume providing reading and textbooks for all basic schools. He said timely disbursement of the capitation grant to education directorates and schools will be a priority, as well as removing the capping and collateralisation of the GETFund and resuming the free sanitary pad distribution policy.

“I will prioritise the revival of abandoned Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and the E-blocks in our education infrastructure drive to decongest schools and improve the quality of education.

“We also plan to review and improve the implementation of the Free SHS policy, resolve its associated challenges and mainstream TVET and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics in all secondary schools,” he said.