Mr Haruna Iddrisu, the Minister of Education, has called on committee members of the National Education Forum to explore innovative ways to sustain the financing of the Free Senior High School Policy.
“Can your committee help find answers as to how we can sustain this laudable initiative and make sure that when we pledge to provide feeding, we provide it timely, in quality, and the right quantities?” he asked.
Mr. Iddrisu said this on Tuesday when he inaugurated the eight-member committee appointed by President John Dramani Mahama to organize the upcoming stakeholder education forum.
The committee, chaired by Professor George K.T. Oduro, a former Pro Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, took the official oath and oath of secrecy.
The members are Professor Goski Alabi, Academic and Entrepreneur, Prof Rosemary Bosu, Senior Lecturer, University of Cape Coast, Dr. Samuel Awuku, Education and Development Consultant, Prof Smile Dzisi, former Rector, Koforidua Technical University, Mr. Kofi Asare, Executive Director, Africa Education Watch, Mr. Stephen Owusu, renowned Educationist, and Mr. Inusah Shiraz, Education Policy Planner.
The Minister said President Mahama selected the members based on their rich expertise in education and expressed confidence in their ability to discharge their duties efficiently.
He said the President prioritised education because if the country got its educational policies right, it would help develop a competitive human capital from kindergarten to the tertiary.
“To the President, all is not well. He doesn’t pretend to have the answers or the solutions to the myriad of problems affecting equitable and quality provision of education to deserving Ghanaians,” he said.
The Constitution, in articles 25 and 38, guarantees that every Ghanaian must have equal education opportunities.
He called for concerted efforts to address the disparity in the provision of quality education between the north and the south and the rural and urban areas to ensure equity.
“How do we respond to the needs of industry and commerce? How should tertiary education respond to the country’s future aspirations? How do we situate the provision of higher education in satisfying the generic general academic requirements of our investors? How do we expand access?” he asked.
“We have presented a statement about the state and future of education to the Committee. Feel free to change it as you wish. What the President wants is to benefit from the knack of open, relevant, transparent discussion about how we all can contribute to making education accessible, equitable, of quality, and relevant to our national development planning base.”
Voice of Haruna Iddrisu
Prof Oduro, the Chairman of the Committee, commended the President for the confidence reposed in them, describing the committee as “a solid team of potential task accomplishments.”
“The task is demanding, and we assure you commitment to working within the two weeks as stipulated in our terms of reference,” he said.
President Mahama, in a statement on February 2, appointed an eight-member committee to organize the National Education Forum, fulfilling his commitment to reform Ghana’s education sector.
Their task is to develop a detailed strategy for engaging key stakeholders in the education sector and shaping a new policy framework for national education.
The committee’s responsibilities include developing a theme and sub-themes to guide discussions and identifying key stakeholders such as students, parents, teachers, researchers, civil society organizations, development partners, religious groups, political parties, chiefs, and educational institutions to feed into the policy.
The committee has been given two weeks to submit a comprehensive plan for the forum.
Voice of Professor George K.T. Oduro
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