The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has lauded private schools for their resilience and dedication to quality human development, saying they are the foundation stone of education in Ghana.
Mr Bagbin made the commendation at the opening of the 30th Annual General Conference of the Ghana National Association of Private Schools (GNAPS) in Ho, last Wednesday.
About 417 school proprietors and administrators from across the country turned up for the two-day event on the theme: Revolutionising Education, Transforming Ghana Through Innovation and Technology.
Mr Bagbin said over the years, private schools had demonstrated their dedication to quality human development in the broader national interest.
Therefore, he said, private schools must be supported by the Ministry of Education, Ghana Education Service (GES), National Teaching Council and other relevant authorities with regulations designed to nurture them further and not to destroy them.
“Private schools must have a conducive environment to operate in and incentives to grow for the benefit of the child,” Mr Bagbin added.
The Speaker, who is also a school proprietor, said private schools had helped in no uncertain terms to expand the frontiers of knowledge through their sacrifices and helped to maintain high standards of education in the country.
Touching on the theme, Mr Bagbin described it as appropriate and timely, saying a revolutionised education which remained in Accra, Tamale, Ho and other urban centres was not life-transforming unless it reached every conceivable part of the country.
He commended members of the Ghana Association of Private Schools for their unity of purpose, saying they were definitely a force to reckon with in all matters of national development.
Modern education system
The Agbogbomefia of Asogli, Togbe Afede XIV, in a speech read on his behalf, said the evolution of Ghana’s education sector could not be written without the labour of private school proprietors, teachers and administrators who fought considerable odds to build and sustain the sector.
He said the tools to educate a child had changed in contemporary society.
“Artificial Intelligence, digital learning platforms, mobile connectivity and data-driven school management systems are no longer novelties reserved for wealthier nations; they are fast becoming the baseline expectation of a modern education system anywhere in the world,” Togbe Afede pointed out.
He said Ghana could not afford to be a spectator to that transformation, which required the preparation of children to compete, be innovative and lead in a global economy being reshaped by technology daily.
The Agbogbomefia explained that that was not a call to abandon the fundamentals of sound teaching, discipline and character formation upon which Ghanaian education had long prided itself.
“It is rather a call to marry those fundamentals with the tools of our time – digital literacy from the earliest years, blended with adaptive learning models suited to our context and teacher training that keeps pace with technological change,” he added.
Realities of private school
The President of GNAPS, Professor Damasus Tuurosong, said a sector that could not ask questions about the assessment of its own pupils had stopped taking its responsibility seriously.
Therefore, he said the West African Examinations Council should be interested in opening its windows and doors to greater scrutiny.
He pledged GNAPS’ stance in support of the principle that a child deserved a qualified, licensed and professionally supported teacher.
“What we continue to ask for is a pathway that recognises the realities of the private school, a licensing and professional development regime that is accessible, affordable, sequenced and available to teachers in Bunkurugu, Fielmuo or Assin Fosu as readily as it is in Accra”, Prof. Tuurosong maintained.
