Global School Project presents SDG compliance report to minister
The Minister of Education Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum today last Friday received a country-level research report on compliance of the education sector to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from the Global School Project (GSP).
The Team Lead of the GSP, who is also the Pro Vice-Chancellor of the University of Education, Winneba (UEW), Professor Andy Ofori-Birikorang, presented the report to the minister.
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The research, titled “GSP Prevalence of SDGs in Ghanaian Education Policies and Curricula,” was undertaken by the UEW under the Global School pilot project.
Objective
The project was to assess the prevalence of SDG concepts and learning objectives in Ghana’s education policy and pre-tertiary curricula.
In 2019, the GSP set up a research programme in Morocco, Ghana and Turkey to conduct country-level research on Education Sustainable Development curriculum localisation.
Ghana’s project team, with nine members led by Prof. Ofori-Birikorang, looked at the individual subjects and policies that are SDGs compliant.
Report
The Project Coordinator of the GSP of the UEW, Dr Richardson Addai-Mununkum, observed that newer educational policies and programmes showed greater degree of “competencies’ pervasiveness.”
He identified for instance that a policy such as the National Science Technology and Innovation Policy was more compliant, while Our World, Our People, a new subject introduced for pupils in the lower primary, was most compliant to the SDGs.
Dr Addai-Mununkum stated that of all the SDGs, the Goals Three and Four, which focused on ensuring health and well-being for all; and inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all respectively, were the most explicitly captured in seven subjects.
“For each of the 17 SDGs, more than 80 per cent of the subjects under review fall under category ‘Non-Mention’ (NM) of specific education sustainable development learning objectives,” he said.
He said the report recommended that there was the need to make SDGs a cross-cutting issue in the under-review common core curriculum and also a national study to assess the reality of learners’ experiences in the implementation of the SDG compliant subjects of the KG to primary six curriculum.
Success story
In a speech, the Executive Director of the Millennium Promise Alliance (MPA), Chief Nat Ebo Nsarko, said the GSP had proven a huge success, “and I am delighted to inform you that the SDSN has granted Ghana another opportunity to participate in the Mission 4.7 project.”
“Mission 4.7 builds on and draws upon the UNESCO’s global leadership on the Education Sustainable Development (ESD) and Global Citizenship Education (GCED) as mandated by its member states and the UN General Assembly respectively, as well as of its responsibility for the monitoring of target 4.7,” he explained.
Response
Dr Adutwum in his response said he was grateful for the report and reiterated the resolve of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo that education was what would change the country.
“So, when you hear of free senior high school, it is not an end in itself, it is not a political gimmick. It is a means to an end, an end to socio-economic transformation, a place where the rich and the poor will have access to quality secondary education,” he explained.
Welcoming the guests, the Chief Director of the ministry, Mr Benjamin Kwasi Gyasi, congratulated Team UEW, describing the event as “colourful and significant.”
