Civil society key to quality education - Ankomah

The Minister of Education, Youth and Sports, Papa Owusu Ankomah has urged civil society organisations to regard themselves as key players in the realization of quality education in the country.

“The quest for quality education in the country can only be realized when civil society act as partners," he said.

Papa Ankomah was speaking when research findings by the Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC) on the standard of education in the Gomoa District was presented to his Ministry, the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs (MOWAC) and the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education.

He said research conducted by his Ministry had shown that lack of parental commitments in education accounted for the poor performance of pupils in the rural areas.

He said research was important to the success of the new education reforms and called on stakeholders in education to undertake such research to ensure success.

Hajia Alima Mahama, Minister of Women and Children's Affairs, said education and health were important to the development of every child adding, "the child of today is the leader of tomorrow."

She said: "The best interest of the child shall always be the primary consideration of my Ministry in the formulation of its policies to ensure that no child suffers discrimination."

Hajia Mahama said the capitation grant, and the free bus ride for school children on public transport were some of the interventions by government to address the problems of education.

She said the new education reforms would assist children not to be engaged in child labour, which was the concern of many people.

Mr Emmanuel Koyole, Chairman GNECC, said the 2006 BECE results indicated that 15 schools out of 124 scored zero per cent, which necessitated the need to find the reasons behind such a performance.

Mr Koyole said the findings sought to bridge the gap on the level of quality education between the rural and urban child and called for immediate implementation of the findings.

Some of the findings of the research indicated that inadequate education materials, lack of trained and professional teachers, socio-cultural norms and the lack of motivation for teachers accounted for the low standard of education in the District.

Source: GNA