Pre-Tertiary Education Bill Will Render Education System Chaotic – CSS Warns Gov’t

The Centre for Socio-Economic Studies (CSS) is warning the government that the current state of the proposed Pre-Tertiary Education Bill will disturb the education system.

The Pre-Tertiary Education Bill, 2019 was laid in Parliament in June last year and seeks to provide for a decentralized pre-tertiary education system and an educational system to produce individuals with the requisite knowledge, skills, and values, to become functional and productive citizens for national development, to establish a Technical and Vocational Education and Training Service, and to provide for related matters.

The Bill has met strong resistance from teacher unions with most of them stressing that the Bill in its current state will pose danger to education management, and also disrupt the synergy between teachers and the Ghana Education Service, which will negatively impact the educational sector.

Adding their voice to the many cries, the Centre for Socio-Economic Studies says, “This move by the government, if successful, would place pre-tertiary education in a state of chaos, defeating the intended purpose of Article 25(1) of the Constitution to ensure the right to equal educational opportunities”.

"Article 25 (1) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana in general terms prohibits the discriminatory provision of basic education to the disadvantage of every Ghanaian child in a manner that prevents them from achieving the full realization of their right to education."

CSS is arguing that the Pre-Tertiary Bill in its current state purports to do the exact opposite.

It continued, “For instance, under the current arrangement for managing pre-tertiary educational institutions, the Ghana Education Service and its allied institutions have evolved measures, with corresponding efforts to ensure a minimum level of resource distribution and quality assurance for the provision of education resources and achieving productive learning outcomes in accordance with the relevant provisions of the constitution.

“Consequently, there is a fair chance, for example, of a child schooling in Adomi in the Asuogyaman District of the Eastern Region being equal in comparison with her counterpart in Kukuom in the Asunafo North District of the Brong Ahafo Region despite the resource mobilisation strengths of the respective districts as the central government acting through the GES is required to ensure equitable distribution of teaching and learning resources. However, under the proposed changes, the ability of each district to mobilise and commit significant allocations to education will define the quality of education each child receives in Ghana and how that child can attain self-actualisation and contribute meaningfully to the socio-economic development of Ghana."

Read full statement below: