Ghanaians rank education topmost priority in election 2012- NCCE survey

A survey conducted by National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has revealed that majority of Ghanaians perceives educational issues of grave concern in the General Election.

The survey dubbed: “Election 2012: matters of concern to the Ghanaian voter,” said a total of 5,416 respondents mentioned education as the first three rankings besides health and employment.

The respondents called for the abolishment of sports fees, Parent Teacher Association dues and examination levy.

The survey discovered that most Ghanaians want government to set up more educational institutions in mostly rural areas to provide quality education.

It said while new school buildings should be constructed to eradicate schools under trees, provision of educational materials such as tables and chairs, textbooks and computers must be adequate to meet the needs of students.

The respondents called for better incentive and remuneration for teachers so that they would be in a better position to teach well do away with extra classes which come with its own exorbitant fees.

The NCCE survey established that training for more teachers is more crucial to Ghanaians; who believe that professional teachers need to be trained to provide quality education.

It said government should support social intervention initiatives by extending the school feeding programme and the free school uniform through the capitation grant to cover the whole country.

The survey established that most Ghanaians would support government efforts to extend Ghana Education Trust Fund to private secondary schools.

The citizenry want government to address the duration of the senior high school programme once and for all and stop politicizing it.

It said government must introduce more technical and vocational courses in the education system and uplift the technical institutions.