Ga East Assembly prioritizes quality basic education

The Ga East Municipal Assembly has set out to improve quality basic education as a way of investing in the youth, Mr. John Kwao Sackey, Municipal Chief Executive, said last weekend.

The MCE said the assembly was contemplating a significant increase in the capitation grant to achieve improved quality of education. He however, did not indicate the quantum of increment being considered.

The assembly also plans to encourage rehabilitation and retraining programmes for school drop-outs in response to a need to pursue policies "that will help our youth to recover from the bad choices or poor circumstances that they may find themselves," he added.

He was addressing a municipal parade held at the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission school park at Kwabenya to commemorate the 53rd Independence anniversary celebrations. It was on the theme: "Investing in our youth for a better Ghana."

The introduction of the capitation grant and school feeding programme led to increased enrolment in primary schools nationwide which overstretched facilities and worsened pupil-teacher ratios, especially in rural areas.

It was estimated in 2007 that over 800,000 Ghanaian children, most of them in rural areas where access to quality basic education remained questionable, were out of school. But latest statistics from the Ministry of Education indicate that the total number of children enrolled at the pre-school level countrywide increased from 1,258,483 in the 2007/2008 academic year to 1,338,454 in 2008/2009 academic year, an increment of 51,122.

At the primary level, overall enrolment improved from 3,616,023 in 2007/2008 to 3,710,647 in 2008/2009, representing an increment of 94,626.

It is believed that if such a trend continued, Ghana would achieve the Millennium Development Goal of Universal Primary Education by 2015, as well as, beat the Education For All (EFA) time line by the same 2015. The Ga East Municipality has its eyes on these too.

In separate interviews with Public Agenda, Messrs Antonio Kotey Vialla and Alhaji Baba Ibrahim, assembly members for Abokobi and Pantang respectively, supported the MCE's intentions. Mr. Vialla noted that the intention to rehabilitate and retrain school drop-outs was vital. However, he called for the involvement of parents in any initiatives adapted to better education delivery in the municipality.

On his part, Alhaji Ibrahim said the intentions clearly demonstrated that the assembly was on track to achieve the goals of the government. He said the nation needed well educated youth to ensure prosperity.

However, rural areas needed special attention to ensure the success of any rehabilitation and retraining initiatives, he said, adding, the MCE's pronouncements "should be taken as a national call and not a political statement."