Education Ministry urged to continue supporting National Youth Dialogue

Participants at the end of a National Youth Dialogue have urged the Ministry of Education to continue supporting the National Youth Dialogue on transformative education.

The appeal was made in a communique issued by the participants at the end of the National Youth Dialogue, which was attended by over 200 youth.

The National Youth Dialogue on Transformative Education was held on the theme, "Achieving Transformative Education, Youth Voices, Perspectives and Aspirations".

Sponsors of the National Youth Dialogue include Plan Ghana, Foundation for Security and Development in Africa (FOSDA) Ghana and Oxfam Ghana. Other civil society partners include Youth Advocates Ghana, Girls and Advocacy Alliance, Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition and CSO Platform on SDGs Ghana.

The objectives set for the dialogue include engaging policymakers and presenting youth position on transforming education, including Technical and Vocational Education and Training in Ghana.

The communique commended the Government for the review of the current curriculum, which seeks to promote the much-proposed critical thinking, problem-solving skills and creativity for the Kindergarten and Primary school levels and which will prepare the youth in all sectors to face the challenges of globalization.

It however, expressed worry about the reported challenges and teething problems associated with the implementation of the new curriculum.

"We have fears that if challenges are not addressed and the right resource provided the much-anticipated improvement in the quality of education for the Ghanaian child will not be realised."

To make the nation's education system more skill-based to augment theoretical based learning, the communique urges Government to provide adequate resources including teaching and learning material for the practical and effective implementation of the new curriculum leading to transformative education for the Ghanaian Child.

It also urged the Government to address serious issues related to accountability in the education sector, which has a strong correlation with learning outcomes.

"We urge the Ministry of Education and Ghana Education Service to engage the youth in efforts to improve accountability in the sector," it said. "We urge the Government to adopt Accountability measures adopted at the National Education Week to improve education and engage the youth and communities and those processes."

It called on the Ministry of Education to speed-up the process of making Technical, Vocational, Education and Training (TVET) secretariat an Authority.

It called for increased investment in TVET education and make it attractive to the youth.

It advocated the adoption of policies that make TVET the first choice of education rather than last.

It suggested making Vocational Education free including the tools and equipment required for practicals.

It called for improved training opportunities for teachers and trainers in both the formal and informal education sector for appropriate skills in the area of vocational and technical education.

It also recommended engaging the youth in education policymaking processes as students, citizens, leaders and partners, adding that the government and policymakers should recognize active youth groups at various levels to improve consultations.