Teachers asked not to resist decentralization of GES

Mr. Mahama Ayariga, Deputy Minister of Education, has appealed to teachers not to resist Government’s effort to structurally decentralize the Ghana Education Service (GES), to ensure functional accountability and efficiency.

The decentralization system aims to empower District and Regional Directorates of Education, and functionally divide the directorates into four by assigning its three other functions of teacher professional development management and teacher supervision, school inspection and curriculum development and assessment of the GES to three new agencies.

The new agencies are the National Teaching Council, National Inspectorate Board and National Council for Curriculum and Assessment under the new GES Act, 2008 (ACT 778).

Mr. Ayariga was addressing a stakeholders’ workshop on the Education Act, Act 778 in Koforidua on Wednesday.

The four-day event being attended by leadership of the Ghana National Association of Teachers, National Association of Graduate Teachers and the Teachers and Educational Workers Union, aimed at adequately informing participants about the on-going reform of the GES being implemented by the Government to be able to educate their members.

Mr. Ayariga said the cooperation of all the Unions was critical for the success of the reform.

He said Government had implemented the program of devolution of greater basic and secondary education services delivery powers to the district and regional directorates of education.

District Directorates of Education are now responsible for the efficient delivery of education services in their districts under the supervision of their District Education Oversight Committees consisting of recognized stakeholders in education at the local level.

Mr. Ayariga said the new National Inspectorate Board (NIB) shall now undertake school inspection, evaluation and also set and enforce standards to be observed at the basic and second cycle levels.

He said the NIB would set up external panels to provide an independent external evaluation of the quality and standards in schools.

The National Teaching Council (NTC) shall register teachers when they have satisfied established appropriate conditions, license teachers and ensure professional discipline among teachers.

Additionally, the NTC would advise on teacher standards and in-service training, periodically review professional practice and ethical standards and review or approve sanctions to teachers in case of misconduct.

The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment would guide curriculum development and review, and approve text books developed for basic and secondary schools.

The implementation of these structural reforms would address challenges identified by stakeholders to account for the persistent poor performance of basic and secondary schools in recent times.

He said the 2011 World Bank Report on “Education in Ghana” identified, among other things poor quality teaching, teacher absenteeism and lax school inspection system as major weakness in Ghana’s education system.

Mr. Ayariga said the on-going program to implement the Single-Spine Salary Structure and other packages would help address the issues of teacher motivation, identified by the World Bank as a challenge to quality education.**