REPORT SUMMARY
Elected national officer
Environmental outlook of Education
Activities
Challenges
Way forward
Recommendation
Conclusion
As I present to you the General Secretary’s annual report for the 2016/17 academic year, it is important to apprise you with developments on the globe and our country particularly on the educational front, which has implication for our operations in the privately funded school industry.
The Environmental Outlook of Education
Since 2015, the world converge to move towards the implementation of The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), officially known as Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is a set of 17 "Global Goals" with 169 targets between them. Spearheaded by the United Nations through a deliberative process involving its 193 Member States, as well as global civil society, the goals are contained in paragraph 54 United Nations Resolution A/RES/70/1 of 25 September 2015. The Resolution is a broader intergovernmental agreement that acts as the Post 2015 Development Agenda (successor to the Millennium Development Goals). The SDGs build on the Principles agreed upon under Resolution A/RES/66/288, popularly known as The Future We Want.
These developments have largely influenced activities across the globe and particularly our country Ghana which is a member states and heavily dependent on other countries to maintain its fiscal budget. I shall touch on goal 4 of SDG, which is devoted to Education and, for that matter our industry. The main theme is to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all’ it has seven targets and three means of implementation.
The seven targets
4.1 By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes
4.2 By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education
4.3 By 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university
4.4 By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship
4.5 By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations
4.6 By 2030, ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy
4.7 By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development
The three means of implementation
4. a Build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all
4.b By 2020, substantially expand globally the number of scholarships available to developing countries, in particular least developed countries, small island developing States and African countries, for enrolment in higher education, including vocational training and information and communications technology, technical, engineering and scientific programmes, in developed countries
4.c By 2030 substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers, including through international cooperation for teacher training in developing countries, especially least developed countries and Small Island developing States.
Obviously, this is the closest attempt to making education a right and other stakeholders would collaborate in its attainment.
SITUATION IN THE COUNTRY
The main political parties went into the election with manifestoes declaring their preparedness to implement the ideals of SDG goal 4 particularly free basic and second cycle educations with improved access and quality. Having won the elections, the government of the New Patriotic Party has roll out programmes to implement the free SHS programme. These developments coupled with the aggressive drive to expand access through construction of new public schools has negatively imparted the enrollment drive of some member schools, especially, those in the second cycle levels. The conscious attempt to reserve quota admissions exclusively for public basic school children moving to the SHS level also has implication for private basic schools. Private school children have to grapple with limited spaces in the elite Senior High Schools, this discriminatory.
The high unemployment situation across the country has seriously affected payment of school fees. Parents with accumulated the debt move from one school to other. Competition and treats of entry is very high in the industry. The seemingly lack of regulations and standards has lowered the barriers of entry into the private school industry. Private schools of all shapes and structure have and continue to spring up in every nook and corner of our country. Sometimes casting a slur on our image.
Technology has continued to evade every facet of our life and integrated learning supported by ICT has enhanced our effectiveness and efficiency, the visual and kinesthetic learner has been compensated, resulting in lower school drop out rate. However, the Internet infrastructure and its attendant cost in our country have impeded our drive to accelerate in other to catch up with modern trends.
ACTIVITIES
Meetings
The standing committee met in Kumasi GNAPS week theme.
The National Executive Committee held 5 meeting, two in Accra, Koforidua, Winneba and Wa. The very first meeting was in Accra Haavard College on the 2nd September 2016 for
The handing over of documents from the old to the new executive the process has to be stalled following some developments. The next meeting was in Accra, on the 15th December 2016 to commence discussion of the 2017 GNAPS Week celebration. The third meeting was in Koforidua, O Green Spot on the 7th February 2017, the fourth was in Winneba, Nananom School on the 4th May 2017 and Wa, Our Home International School on The 14th July 2017, hosted the 5th meeting.
Congratulatory message
The General secretary and some representatives of some pre- school organisation where in the house of the then president elect Addo Danquah Akuffo Addo to present to him a goodwill messages from GNAPS and the Pre- school Association.
GNAPS’ Week Celebrations.
Though the national launch of the GNAPS Week celebration scheduled for the 17th February 2017 was called off in the final moment the week long celebration was generally commemorated from the 20th to 24th February 2017. The theme for the celebration was the Influence of Politics in Ghana’s education the way forward for private schools. A few regions postponed the celebration by a week. In all, the colourful event recorded increased turn out in most area of the country.
Challenges
The association cannot pride itself with secretariat and office machinery needed to discharge its mandate. It has become difficult to fund almost every activity at the national level. All national and NEC members had to foot their own bills when they were suppose to be working for the association making it difficult to guarantee commitment to the course. In fact, this has affected meeting attendance as some members have been able to attend a single NEC meeting after Sunyani and this is in breach of our constitution.
The big association like has no official vehicle and a driver.
Boards
Mr. Justice King Essiel, the current General Secretary has been appointed to serve on the Governing Council of the Ghana Education Service the appointment took effect from 18th April, 2017 he replaces Mr. Godwin Sowah. He has since commence work, another member of our fraternity Mr. Prince Kusi - Quaidoo, the Western Regional Chairman has also been appointed to serve on the Governing Council of the National Inspectorate Board of the Ministry of Education. The appointment took effect from the 11th of July 2017 he replaces Mr. Samuel Nikoi.
WAY FORWARD
Ghana National Association of Private School in the face of the evolving educational industry plans to do a number of things, which includes
Review the constitution of GNAPS and make resolutions that would make the Association relevant to its needs. The review among other things would look at the following
1. Formulate a mission and vision of the association and importantly, clarify the structures to make GNAPS effective and attractive.
2. Develop policies and programmes to enhance cooperation among member school to improve learning outcomes of our schools. Programmes in sports and culture, quiz, debate and writing competitions must assume a national character
3. Set up a framework to undertake advocacy to ensure that children in private schools get their fair share of the 100 percent government funded pre tertiary education by obtaining vouchers and budget allocations for children from deprive backgrounds.
4. Create opportunities for private teachers to develop their carrier by attracting, recruiting and building teacher capacity in curriculum, school governance and leadership, teaching and the use of technology to promote quality, inclusive and integrated education in a non-violent environment.
5. Collaborate with allied bodies that provide Cambridge and Baccalaureate programmes to give private schools a differentiated curriculum and a niche in this increasingly competitive environment.
6. Source funding and support from international organisations for our members by providing empirical data and office infrastructure to support the claim that private schools are efficient and worthy partner in delivering quality education or all.
RECOMMENDATION
Create a unique identification number for each member school and provide support services to enhance the success of member schools based on periodic update on their schools’ health and raise the standards of member schools and the general welfare of its members.
Equip the National Secretariat and employ experienced Director of Education for private school to develop, formulate and implement policies that would keep the association actively in touch with emerging trends in the educational industry.
Give every paid member the right to vote in election. This would ensure higher patronage in national and delegates’ conferences and boost our revenue base
Institute an annual levy of one cedi per pupil to help raise adequate revenue for the sustenance of the association.
Take over the supply of souvenir during national events like GNAPS week, and conferences to enjoy the advantage of scale while ensuring regions and districts are not short chained
CONCLUSION
As I bring the curtain down to my report let me dare say that, repeating same old things in a revolving environment would impede our success and this is a matter that requires our collective attention. What we have come to accept, as standards can only be relevant if it addresses our problems and makes as attractive in this educational industrial space. Distinguished leaders of Private Education in Ghana, I welcome you all to this year’s biennial delegates conference as I look forward deliberations that would result in resolutions which not only consolidate our gains but also help us build a stronger partnership between GNAPS and our schools.
