Stakeholders in education yesterday urged government to roll out specialised initiatives targeting deprived communities in order to ensure equitable and inclusive standards of education at the basic school level of the country.
The stakeholders, who are made of civil society organisations, religious groups and traditional authorities, and student representatives (SRCs), noted that the basic school level is the bedrock of the education sector of the country which needs special attention to enhance quality in the entire education eco-system.
They identified inadequate infrastructure, such as classroom blocks and furniture digital tools and learning materials and logistics, financing as a major hindrance to quality education in these under serve communities.
The participants also identified parental irresponsibility, low teacher deployment and gender inequalities contributing significantly to poor quality education outcomes in these communities.
These came to light at the Zonal National Education forum for the three regions Bono, Bono East and Ahafo in Sunyani of the Bono Region.
The forum, organised by the Ministry of Education, was on the theme: ‘Transforming Education For A sustainable future,’ was aimed at soliciting stakeholders inputs in government quest to transform the
In the education sector of the country, the participants again emphasised the need to construct science laboratory to be attached to basic schools to encourage the learning of science in those under serve communities.
The forum was later divided into four sections with four thematic areas namely: infrastructure, Financing, quality education and regulation and governance with two facilitators leading in the discussion.
The Bono Regional Minister, Joseph Addae Akwaboa, opening the forum noted that the forum was a testament of the commitment of the government’s efforts at reseting Ghana, assuring that the recommendations that would come out from the forum would be implemented to achieve the expected outcomes.
This, he said, was major vision by the government towards transforming the country’s education sector to ensure that no child was left behind.
“This reforms often carried out by the Ministry of Education to exchange ideas from stakeholders, aimed at effecting the necessary changes to achieving global standards of Ghana’s education sector.” he stated.
He appealed to the participants to see the exercise as a sacred duty the nation by contributing meaningfully which would help shape Ghana’s education sector.
The Vice Chancellor of Sunyani Technical University, prof. kwadwo Adinkra Appiah who chaired the forum commended the government for organising the forum and called on Ghanaians to support it to meet the global requirements of academic standards for the country.
He stressed the need for Ghana to focus on embracing new technologies as well as vocational and technical education in achieving sustainable outcomes.