Govt urged to rescind decision to allow GIMPA to train head teachers

Winneba (C/R), Dec. 18, GNA – The Pro-Vice Chancellor of University of Education, Winneba (UEW) Professor Mawutor Avoke has called on the government to rescind its decision to empower the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) to train head teachers in basic schools in the country.

Professor Avoke made the call at a colloquium jointly organised by Faculties of Education Studies of UEW and the University of Cape Coast (UCC) in Winneba.

The event was under the theme “transforming school for quality teaching and learning: the way forward”.

Professor Avoke who was the chairman of the programme, emphasized that if care was not taken by policy makers in education, unqualified teachers and personalities would raise up to manage the education sector within the next few years, which will jeopardize the human resource base of the country.

The Director of Institute for Educational Planning and Administration, (IEPA) of the University of Cape Coast, Dr George K. T Oduro, said unless as a nation “we allow structures to operate and the Ministry of Education resources and support its accredited agencies to operate without any interferences, reversing the trend of quality education will be a mirage”.

Speaking on the topic ‘Do our education Institutions have the capacity to reverse the trend in relation to quality education delivery’, Mr Oduro said, it is essential that the Ministry of Education empowers and allow the Ghana Education Service (GES) to play its policy implementation roles without political interferences.

‘Of course, the Ministry of Education must not neglect its constitutional mandate to intervene when GES is not performing efficiently.’

He said the Ministry must take steps to either regularize the Acting Postings within the Ghana Education Service to provide some level security to those occupying such position of Acting Director-Teacher Education and others to enable them perform as professionals and bureaucrats.

‘The Ministry of Education should resource institutions to perform rather than creating parallel training institutions for basic school education managers (Head teachers) in the Country’.

He said other institutions should be brought in to support the existing institutions but not to take their roles.

Dr Oduro said the University of Education and University of Cape Coast are better placed to facilitate the Ministry of Education’s agenda for reversing the poor education trend.

Speaking on the Topic, “Uniqueness of Educational Leadership: a credible solution” Rev Father Afful-Broni, Dean of faculty of Education studies of UEW, said there should be greater collaboration between policy makers and the institutions mandated to handle educational matters like Ministry of Education, GES, UEW, UCC and the community.

He called for streamlining the educational administration programmes and development of policy to guide them for implementation.