GES D-G worried about lack of credible data

Ajumako (C/R), May 8, GNA- Reverend Ama Afo Blay, Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), has expressed concern about lack of credible data on Integrated Payroll Personnel Data (IPPD) as a result of which 90 percent of the GES budget goes into payment of salaries. She said the IPPD designed to ensure that teachers at post equals to teachers on payroll was not achieving the intended purpose, because there was no reliable data at the district, regional and national level. The Director-General was opening a five-day workshop on planning and data management for 122 district and regional statistics and planning officers in the Northern sector at the GES Development Institute at Ajumako in the Central region.
Rev Afo Blay said unreliable database was a source of concern to the GES and that it has for so many years affected effective and efficient ways of managing recruitment, postings, transfers, study leave, salary costing and administration.
She urged the participants to use the skills acquired to map up strategies to collect and provide accurate, dependable and authentic data at the district, regional and national level for policy makers to use for proper planning.
Rev Afo Blay assured the participants that the GES would provide the necessary logistics including computers at the district and regional offices to enhance their work.
Mr Emmanuel Acquaye, the Director of Curriculum Research Development Division (CRDD), said the GES is undertaking school-mapping exercise in all the districts in the country to identify the future needs and problems in education at the local level.
He said the exercise, which began in 2003, would be completed by 2005 and it forms part of the education strategic plan for the country for 2003-2015.
Mr Matthew Karikari Ababio, the Strategic Planning Officer at the GES headquarters, said the workshop forms part of training programmes drawn for the administrative staff in the Service towards effective decentralisation.
It was attended by statistics and planning officers from the Upper East, Upper West, Northern, Brong-Ahafo and Ashanti regions. A similar workshop was held for the Southern sector a month ago.