This pledge was repeated in Ghana’s National Commitment Statement that was presented at the 2022 Transforming Education Summit. It is important to remind ourselves as a country of the need to fulfill these commitments that signify our collective efforts towards the achievement of agenda 2023. In view of the above, GNECC is of the view that there is a need for a solidarity pact going forward to translate commitments into action and strengthen the capacities of policymakers and implementers including teachers to transform education to that of the 21st century. We need to rally around a concrete accountability mechanism that will monitor Ghana’s transformational commitments in the form of national SDG 4 benchmarks and drives concrete progress around the themes that emerged from the Summit ( source: official concept note on IDE) As we join the global community on this special day to celebrate education worldwide, GNECC is calling on the government and other key stakeholders to prioritize the following three key areas. ADEQUATE RESOURCE PROVISION FOR BASIC SCHOOLS.
Basic education experienced about a 40% decline in budget allocation in 2023 as compared to 2022. The majority of public schools in Ghana still do not have access to textbooks to support teaching and learning in the classroom. According to an independent CSO audit conducted by GNECC on school infrastructure in 2021, about 80% of basic schools’ infrastructure is in a very poor state whilst most classrooms are overcrowded. Some school children sit on the bare floor to learn due to the absence or inadequacy of school furniture. GNECC is calling on the government to redirect some of the resources to the Senior High Schools such as the intended distribution of free tablets to students at the SHS level to strengthen basic education. Strengthening basic education will provide Senior High Schools with students with quality learning outcomes from the basic level. We are also using the opportunity to call on the government to engage all key stakeholders to review the Senior High School policy implementation.