GNEC urges government/parents to ensure quality education

February 10, 2010
Cape Coast, Feb. 10, GNA - The Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC), on Monday launched the "Right to know, Right to Education" project- Ghana, at Nsuaem in the Assin South District of the Central Region, with a call on the government to ensure quality education for all children.

The National Programme Officer, Mr Kofi Asare, who made the call, said the aim of the project is to among others, advocate for rights-based education policy making framework to generate active citizenship participation.

It was launched on the theme "Transparent and accountable governance in Africa: promoting the child's right to quality basic education through access to information and participatory, rights based budget process".

He said it is being implemented in six African countries, namely, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Swaziland and Ghana, with a common objective of helping each other to improve upon the education system in their various countries.

Mr Asare said the child has the right to be educated by the state while citizens particularly parents also have roles to play to help achieve that right for all children.

He said School Management Committees (SMC) and Parent Teacher Associations (PTA) are to serve as advocates for policy implementation and development of Schools and should therefore serve as monitoring teams and endeavour to have all the needed information to facilitate their work.

Mr Asare said the DFID has pledged a special package for schools in deprived areas of which Assin South District is included and urged SMCs and PTAs in the area to be vigilant.

He said they should ensure that the education office, teachers, parents as well as the children played their parts effectively, for them to qualify for the package.

The District Chief Executive for Assin South Mrs Sabina Appia-Kubi said the project will offer members of the SMCs and PTAs the opportunity to express their views and share ideas freely with the district education directorate.

She appealed to people in her district to support the project to ensure its success and pledged the Assembly's assistance as and when needed.

Mrs Helena Arkoh, the District Education Director of Assin South noted that, education is the key to national development but regretted that much attention has not been given to it in the district.

She was of the hope that with the introduction of the project, parents will be more encouraged to support their children's education.

Mrs. Arkoh told the gathering that on reaching adolescence children tend to be very aggressive and therefore parents needed to be accommodative and to listen attentively and offer them constructive advice.

She asked parents to regularly visit their children in school and also assist them with their home work.

Parents should desist from fighting teachers who punish their defaulting children since this does not help in the proper upbringing of the child.

GNA