Former Deputy Minister of Education, Reverend John Ntim Fordjour
Former Deputy Minister of Education, Reverend John Ntim Fordjour, has questioned the commitment of the John Dramani Mahama-led government in managing Ghana’s education sector.
According to the former deputy minister, the government’s decision to hold a National Education Forum with the aim of drafting a policy guide is indicative of a lack of vision for the education sector.
“I must say that we do not need a National Education Forum to set a vision for President Mahama. As a president who has ample time to campaign and has set out a team to draft your manifesto, it is expected that within that period, your vision is already defined.
“You make specific promises to voters on how you are going to handle the sector. So, what is expected of you upon assuming office is to translate those manifesto promises into actionable policies. What the people of Ghana are expecting is for you to bring out the programs you stated in your manifesto and start implementing them,” he told Channel One News.
He added that the people of Ghana are more interested in seeing the government live up to the promises made by the National Democratic Congress during the 2024 campaign season for the education sector.
“We want to see how that will be reflected in the next budget statement that will be presented. The specifics of Free SHS that you promised, such as covering private schools, are what they are expecting to be implemented. They want to see how you will start paying the fees for first-year students in public tertiary institutions. They expect to see you continue infrastructure promises, cancel the double-track system, for instance, and all these specific promises,” he stated.
He noted that the government should have gone ahead to implement its campaign promises and instead organized stakeholder consultations as part of reviewing the visions and programs.
He further described the National Education Forum as a waste of time and resources, contrasting the current government with the previous Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government in terms of education management.
“It is going to be a waste of time and a waste of Ghana’s precious resources. What we have been doing since 2018 as a country is that an education-specific plan was put in place, which was to span from 2018 to 2030. This comprehensive, specific plan sets out all essential policies to transform various aspects of our education system, from kindergarten all the way to tertiary, and it was aligned with the SDGs. All the stakeholders who put it together are pretty much the same stakeholders that came together to set out that vision,” he stated.
The National Education Forum is being organized by the Government of Ghana under the auspices of the Ministry of Education to develop a guide for education policy development and implementation.
Slated to be launched on Tuesday, February 17, 2025, in Ho, the launch will be followed by a consultative dialogue from Wednesday to Friday.
The consultative dialogue will be replicated in selected zones across the country before a validation conference is held at the University of Professional Studies in Accra on February 27 and 28, 2025.
An eight-member organizing committee is expected to present a report to the Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, on March 21, 2025.
GA/MA