Education forum: Depoliticise appointments of school leadership - Stakeholders urge authorities

Stakeholders in education in the Central and Western zone have called for the depoliticisation of school leadership appointments.

The stakeholders indicated that the highly politicised appointment of leadership in institutions of learning and the subsequent monitoring of school leadership by "political informants" in the schools had taken the power of many school heads and negatively impacted governance in the schools.

They stated that appointments must be based on competence and merit to bring quality back to the schools.

At the Central and Western zone forum of the National Education Dialogue in Cape Coast last Friday, they stated that the removal of public interference in education governance would enhance quality monitoring and supervision without fear of the government.

"It looks like in schools we have political informants who are reporting every minute the actions of the heads and not giving them the free room to operate,” a summary report stated.

Presenting the report after breakout group discussions on five thematic committees, an Associate Professor of Curriculum and Pedagogy, University of Education, Winneba, Prof. Richardson Addai-Mununkum, who spoke on behalf of the committees, said heads of educational institutions mostly felt their hands were tied and that affected the quality of governance in the educational institutions.

At the tertiary level, the stakeholders said highly politically exposed persons were appointed governing council members who only championed political agenda from day one and appealed that such considerations must be revised.

They also called for the decentralisation of teacher appointments to the regions.

Stakeholders also expressed worry over the stigmatisation of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), saying efforts must be made to provide the needed infrastructure and incentives for TVET teachers to make them attractive and to enable them to attract more students, including students with special needs.

They said unlike headmasters and headteachers in second-cycle schools, who rotate after serving some years, those at the basic schools did not have specific tenure.

The forum also called for the recalibration of the Computerised School Selection and Placement System.

CSSP to make it fairer

They indicated that the current CSSP was not fair and sometimes worked to the disadvantage of private schools even though such students had performed excellently.

The stakeholders also proposed the decentralisation of teacher postings to communities.

International Exposure

The forum also called for international exposure for teachers to build their capacities.

They further called for the harmonisation of teacher education curriculum and the training of teachers in newly introduced subjects to adequately prepare them to teach, while teacher training institutions prepared to roll out courses for trainee teachers in those subjects.

Earlier at the opening ceremony, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, Prof. Denis Aheto, said education had the power to foster socio-economic development and growth, adding that mobilising views from diverse groups could lead to the generation of collaborative knowledge to inform policy formulation based on data and evidence.

He said diverse genuine opinions, perspectives and robust discussions on transforming education for a sustainable future were likely to contribute to effective policy formulation and implementation to promote quality education delivery. 

he Central Regional Minister, Eduamoah Payin Okyere, called for exploring challenges specific to the region and working to align efforts with the nation’s vision for education development.