Kofi Asare advocates for consolidation of LI in Ghana’s education sector, not new legislation
Mr. Kofi Asare, the executive director for African Education watch
Mr. Kofi Asare, the Executive Director of EDUWATCH has advocated for the consolidation of the education sector Legislative Instruments.
According to Mr. Asare, the Akufo-addo led government has done laudable works for the Ministry of Education /or Ghana Education sector in many ways therefore he is advocating for consolidation over new legislation. Simply, he want the focus to be on implementing and strengthening the existing education reforms rather than introducing new laws or changes in the education sector.
In a public post, he listed a number of applaudable inputs made by the government and calls for working on Legislative Instrument (LI) that will help the consolidation he opined.
Mr. Kofi Asare writes
EDUCATION SECTOR LEGAL REFORMS: CONSOLIDATING THE GAINS.
The Akufo-Addo administration has since 2020:
Made free Senior High School (free SHS) law in Section 3 of the Pre-Tertiary Education Act, 2020 (Act 1049);
Made free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (fCUBE) law in Section 2 of Act 1049;
Mandated the Ghana Education Service (GES) and TVET Service to implement basic, secondary and TVET policies & programmes of the MoE under Act 1049;
Passed the Education Regulatory Bodies Act, 2020 (Act 1023) to affirm the mandates of the National Teaching Council (NTC), National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA), National Schools Inspectorate Authority (NaSIA), Commission for TVET (CTVET) and Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) as regulators;
Passed the Complementary Education Agency Act, 2020 (Act 1055) to establish the Complementary Education Agency (CEA) to handle Complementary Education, including Complementary Basic Education (CBE).
Having done these, I respectfully opine that, the next strategic legislative reform activity in the last 6 months of the Akufo-Addo administration should be to:
1. Develop Legislative Instruments (LI) to provide the requisite operational frameworks for properly implementing these new laws;
And with the permission of time,
2. Amend the WAEC Act to deal with the modern dynamics of the ever increasing exam fraud that continues to threaten the credibility of secondary education assessment in Ghana. WAEC and Eduwatch have been begging for 4 years.
Exerting our last minute energy on another law for free SHS, apart from being duplicating, is one i struggle to prioritize.
If I qualify to advise the Minister of Education and the President, I would recommend a Legislative Instrument (LI) for the Pre-Tertiary Education Act, 2020 (Act 1049), which would flesh out the framework for operationalising the fCUBE and free SHS/TVET legal provisions in Act 1049, including funding norms, etc.
As you may be aware, fCUBE, which feeds the free SHS factory with raw materials, has never had an LI or policy document for 19 years.
Having a common LI for Pre-tertiary will create the foundation for coherence between an envisioned fCUBE Policy and the existing free SHS Policy, including funding norms.
Laws-LI-Policy!
To wit, the wrap-up strategy for the Ministry of Education should therefore aim to consolidate the harmonisation and operationalisation of existing (new) laws, than passing new, duplicating ones.
SOURCE: Coverghana.com.gh
