Involve Communities In Development Of School Plan

The Ghana Education Service (GES) should amend its Capitation Grant guidelines to involve community participation in the development of school performance improvement plans, a report issued by a Forum on Community Participation in Education Management has recommended.

That, it said, “would strengthen community ownership of schools and their participation in education management”.

The report called for a regular capacity-building for school management committees (SMCs) and parent-teacher association (PTA) to enable them to understand their roles in school management.

“The roles of the district education planning team should be evaluated in the light of the establishment of the community participation coordinators.

The various units should be strengthened with the necessary budgetary allocation and institutional support to enable them to function effectively,” the report said.

Mrs Evelyn Arthur, Chief Party of GAIT II, who presented the report of the forum to the Minister of Education, Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo, last Friday, said the report recommended for a budgetary allocation to be made for a regular training and refresher training for SMCs and PTAs.

The report, she said, underscored the need for the GES to make district directorates of education aware of the central role community participation activities played in improving education management, so that such activities would be budgeted for as part of the priority items under donor and government support.

“Teacher training curricula should include community participation. Teacher trainees should be well-tutored in practical ways of involving communities in education management,” the report said.

The forum, from which the report was developed, was held under the Government Accountability Improves Trust Programme (GAIT II), funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Responding to the report, Mr Tettey-Enyo said weaknesses in community participation in school management was a problem that needed to be addressed.

“Research has shown that community participation is weak,” he said, and stressed the need for it to be at the core of activities in education delivery.

A Deputy Minister of Education, Dr J.S. Annan, said community participation was critical in aspects of development, adding that civic education could help in strengthening community participation in school.

The Director General of the GES, Mr Samuel Bannerman-Mensah, said the service would study the report and come out appropriately.