Prioritise education infrastructure investment in manifestos - Eduwatch to political parties
The Executive Director of Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch), Kofi Asare, has called on political parties to prioritise investment in basic education infrastructure in their respective manifestos and policies.
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That, he said, was because there was a sharp divide between the north and the south in the quality of basic education which was detrimental to the nation’s overall development agenda.
“We want to see much more priority being given to upgrading of basic education infrastructure in this country bearing in mind that over 5,000 schools are still under trees and bad structures,” he stressed.
Mr Asare made the call last Thursday, on the sidelines of a stakeholder engagement to discuss a draft of a Corporate Support Framework for Basic Education Infrastructure.
The framework which is being prepared in collaboration with the Office of the Head of Local Government Service (OHLGS) and partner organisations seeks to provide guidelines for local governments to harness and manage with transparency and accountability, resources mobilised from the corporate sector to support education infrastructure provision at the local level.
According to the education think tank, the idea behind the framework was that the government alone has proven incapable of delivering on the education infrastructure required to serve the Free and Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE)
Therefore, it advocates a corporate sector approach consisting primarily of Faith-Based Organisations, Private Sector, Trade Associations/Unions and Non-Profit Organisations to contribute into a common fund that would be used to supplement government efforts.
The event provided stakeholders with the opportunity to share ideas to further improve the framework and upon completion, it would be adopted by the OHLGS and implemented by local government authorities.
Disappointment
Mr Asare Expressed his disappointment in the campaign messages of the nation’s two leading parties namely the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) so far.
Mr Asare called for policies and affirmative action which would be special purpose vehicles towards bridging the gap between the most deprived districts and regions and the rest of the country in terms of basic education infrastructure, stressing that majority of the schools under tress were located in the North East, Savanna, Oti, Western North and the Northern regions.
