Government urged to resource public schools to function effectively

Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) has appealed to government to commit more resources into the running of public schools to enable them function effectively.

Mr. Mark Dankyira Korankye, the Acting General Secretary of TEWU, said what was needed in public basic and senior high schools was appropriate investment in infrastructure, equipment and human resource development to enable them operate and function properly, and not the idea of giving out such schools to the private sector to manage.

Speaking at the 12th quadrennial delegates’ conference of TEWU in Kumasi, he said the Union was opposed to the idea of the government providing resources to the private sector to take over the running of some 100 schools, under the new School Partnership Project.

“We are not opposing to having private school operators but we are opposed to the idea that resources would be made available to such private operators to enable them make their profits in the name of managing better our educational system."

"If the resources are available, government should give them to the public schools and get them function efficiently as the private schools,” he emphasized.

The conference, which coincided with the 60th anniversary of the Union, was held on the theme: “60 years of TEWU’s contribution to the development of equitable, inclusive and quality education delivery in Ghana”.

Mr Korankye said it was the utmost responsibility of governments to provide the needed infrastructure to ensure that citizens benefited from quality education, which was a public good.

He said TEWU had over the years supported the government to bridge the disparities between the rural and urban, poor and rich in terms of equitable development and access to quality education in the country.



The Acting General Secretary said it was no doubt Ghana had made tremendous progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal four (SDG 4), since it had demonstrated its commitment to inclusive and equitable access through the implementation of the Free Compulsory Basic Education (FCUBE) that allowed children of school-going age free access to basic education.

According to Mr. Korankye, the current educational sector performance report indicated that access to education had improved in all levels of education and said there was the need to consolidate these gains by helping to improve on infrastructure and management of public schools.

Mr. Peter Lumor, National Chairman of TEWU, called on the government to look into the sharing of intervention money released to the senior high schools, and ensure that non-teaching staff got what was due them.

“We shall not accept what was given the last time in the ratio of 80-20, we deserve more than that,” he stated.