School Governance System is Weak – GII Report

Source: Akwasi Fredua

The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), the local chapter of Transparency International (TI), has identified weak school governance as a major challenge to primary education in Ghana.

The situation is attributed to the involvement of few School Management Committees (SMCs) and Parent Teacher Associations (PTA) members in the monitoring of school financial management systems.

In addition, there is poor record keeping by schools, especially when new appointments or transfers of head teachers are made.

These and other findings were made known in Accra on Friday when the GII launched its Africa Education Watch Report, which is an extensive review of the educational system, including analyses and discussions of specific problems and shortcomings in the primary sector. It also evaluates the quality and cost of education and the general attitude towards the educational system at the primary level.

According to the report, teacher shortages, absenteeism, drunkenness, the shift system and the use of unqualified teachers especially in the rural areas are some of the major problems facing the sector.

Analyzing the access of clients to financial information, the report identified poor record keeping and the lack of knowledge of financial issues on the part of SMCs and PTAs as serious challenges. It noted that SMCs and PTAs rarely enquired about school finances and this affected public access to school financial information.

The report also found school infrastructure such as classroom buildings and furniture as generally inadequate, resulting in over-crowding and poor quality teaching and learning.

The use of children for household chores by teachers, lack of inadequate toilet facilities, inability to pay for school levies and learning materials, and inadequate text books were cited as some of the concerns raised by parents in the report.

To improve governance and the management of resources in primary education, GII in consultation with key education stakeholders, including Ghana Education Service (GES), has recommended training for head teachers in financial management, as well as sanctioning of those who fail to keep proper and transparent accounts.

GII has also recommended that SMCs and PTAs be educated about their rights and roles in school management in order to participate more actively in school governance.

Recommendations were also made for training of SMCs in basic planning and financial management for them to track school resources and help reduce leakages and corruption. Other recommendations include: the provision of more classrooms and furniture to contain increasing enrolment; the opening of new schools or extending the shift system to schools with large numbers of pupils; and recruitment and training of more teachers to make up the current shortfalls.

The Executive Secretary of the GII, Vitus Azeem, disclosed that primary school enrolment increased by 36 percent in Sub Sahara Africa between 1999 and 2005, according to UNESCO statistics.

In the context of the global agenda of achieving Education For All (EFA), he said this has increased demand for quality education, posing a challenge to many countries because of the need to scale up resources.

“Financial leakage, waste and inefficiencies in how education funds are often used results in fewer resources available to achieve the EFA goals. Improving the management of the scarce resources available will, therefore, be necessary if the successful achievement of the second Millennium Development Goal is to have an impact,” he advised.

The total number of primary schools in Ghana reached 12,052 in the 1997/1998 academic year. This figure further increased to 15, 0307 in 2005/2006 comprising 12,227 public and 3,080 private schools.

Other key issues in the report include the provision of clean drinking water and toilets in schools. The report also expressed dismay at the situation where classes are held under trees in some schools.

The survey for the report was conducted in March 2008 in 1,020 households. 60 head teachers, 60 chairpersons of PTAs and SMCs were surveyed. The study also covered six district education offices in three regions: the Greater Accra Region representing the coastal area, Ashanti Region, representing the forest/middle belt and the Upper East Region representing the savanna zone.

Credit: Public Agenda