The state of education before the NPP took over in 2017

I have to agree with a lot of people who think the NPP government is not trumpeting its achievements enough. A sector-by-sector review is important to give the Ghanaian people a fair view of whether or not we have made progress as a nation.

Before the NPP took over power in 2017. The following factors were the talking points with respect to the Education Sector.

1. No Chalks in Schools- The Situation was so dire that, Headteachers had to appeal to donors for assistance. A popular incident that greeted the media space was that of the Headmistress of Kukurantumi Presby Primary School, Mrs. Juliet Oppong, who was slammed by the then 2nd lady, for a humble appeal made for a donation of chalk. See.https://www.myjoyonline.com/second-lady-slams-headmistress-for-requesting-chalk/

2. No vehicle in Offices of Ghana Education Service at regional and district levels for monitoring activities: Most District and Regional Education Directorates were immobile due to a lack of vehicles.

3. No Motorbikes for circuit supervisors, now School Inspection and Support Officers(SISO's), for monitoring of Schools.

4. Cancellation of teacher trainee's allowance

5. Rationing of teachers' salaries. Most teachers went off the payroll several times and have to form long queues at Controller and Accountant Generals Office in Accra in order to get themselves back on the payroll. This continued for several months.

6. Payment of 3 months' salary arrears to newly posted Teachers who worked for a year or two. Most newly trained teachers who were put on Scale and worked for a year and in some instances two years received three months' Salary arrears and the rest not paid. See https://www.modernghana.com/news/684590/victims-of-three-3-months-salary-pay-policy-v3mspp.html

7. Expensive Senior High School education, leading to school dropouts.

I can go on to produce an endless list of the snail-pace of education under the NDC. It was a devastating and running disarray of events that was sinking the roots of education in Ghana.

Then, fortunately, President Akufo Addo took over and began a robust campaign to lift the image of education in Ghana. He identified key areas of intervention under the leadership of Matthew Opoku Prempeh(Now Energy Minister)

Key areas of intervention include:

1. Enough Supply of Chalks and other supplementary educational materials to Schools.

2. Supply of pick-ups to 275 District Education Offices and 16 Regional Directorates.

3. Supply of Pick-ups and Busses to Senior High Schools and TVETS across the country.

4. Supply of motorbikes to all SISO's across the country to deepen monitoring and supervision

5. Supply of Wireless internet network to all Snr. High Schools and Education Directorates across the country

6. Restoration of teacher trainee's allowance

7. Stable monthly salary for teachers without going off the payroll.

8. Prompt Payment of newly posted Teachers with their arrears.

9. Free Snr. High School

10. Governments absorption of BECE and WASSCE registration Fees for all Final Year students.

11. Professional development allowance for all teachers to upgrade themselves.

These interventions brought education from a sinkhole and laid a solid foundation for it to thrive. That is not to say, there are no challenges. Definitely, there is a need to work fast on textbooks for the implementation of the new curriculum. But in the midst of the current challenges, the government has offered education a facelift and brought it to a standard worthy of admiration.

I will come back another day to have a bite on another sector, such as health, with a similar comparative analysis.

Ericus ( That Afadzato South Patriot)