Unions in the Ghana Education Service (GES) has called on Parliament to amend the relevant sections of the GES Act 506, the Public Services Commission Act 482 and the Local Government Service Act 656.

This would remove the inconsistencies in the new Education Act 778 and give meaning to the operations of the decentralization project.

According to the Unions the new law, Act 778 in its current form is a bad law that would compound the problems of education delivery in Ghana.

The Unions comprising the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), National Graduates Association of Teachers (NAGRAT) and Teachers and Educational Workers’ Union (TEWU) urged the Ministry of Education not to rush in its implementation, but rather seek remedies to the ills that had bedeviled the new Act, which seem to have been passed in a rush.

Mrs. Irene Duncan Adanusa, General Secretary of GNAT, and the spokesperson for the unions, addressing a media conference on Thursday in Accra, said the conference was the outcome of a workshop organized to discuss the impact of the new law on education delivery in Ghana in July 2012.

She said the promulgation of the Education Act 2008, Act 778 and the subsequent inauguration of the National Teaching Council (NTC), The National Inspectorate Board (NIB) and the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) had questioned the status of the GES.

The General Secretary said the role assigned the GES in Section 4 of the Education Act 2008, Act 778 was difficult to implement because there is no mention of anybody or agency that reports to the GES.

Mrs. Adanusa said for example, NTC, NIB and NCCA, which were Centralized institutions within a decentralized environment, were not made to report to GES. “For efficient coordination, these bodies must report to the GES Council through the Director General of Education instead of reporting to the Minister for Education who is guided by political expediency and whose tenure of office is attached to the whims and discretion of a President,” she explained.

She said the GES, like the Ghana Health Service, is already a decentralized institution and its structure should be maintained to allow for policy reporting to the Director General while the administrative relations with the District Assemblies are strengthened.

“If GES management at all levels is deficient, a more appropriate means must be sought to strengthen them.

“Placing the District Director of Education under a District Chief Executive through the Coordinating Director is a misnomer and an attempt to politicize education, which is the bedrock for national development,” she added.

She said the new law, even though mentions GES Council in the Act, it has no functions assigned to it neither is there any legal relationship established between the Council and the newly created decentralized bodies.

She said: “By tacit maneuvers of the Law, the GES Council exists only by name but not deeds. Act 778 section (3) takes away the core functions of the GES and gives them to the District Assemblies and assigns a new function of Coordination to the GES in section 4.

A clear road-map for the implementation of the Act should be agreed upon with all stakeholders to ensure a well thought out implementation programme. This should be done after Parliament has cured all the disabilities in the new Act and a Legislative Instrument for the new Act should be drafted with input from all stakeholders to avoid conflict with regard to interpretation.”

Mrs. Adanusa explained that while the unions were not opposed to Decentralization as espoused in the Directive Principles of State Policy in the 1992 Constitution, the unions would not encourage any form of decentralization based on a weak and pedestrian law that has no focus but is just an attempt to supplant the 1992 Constitution, which recognizes the GES as one of the public services in Ghana.

Mr. Peter K. Lumor, Secretary General of TEWU, said even TEWU, which is a member of the GES was not placed anywhere in the new Act and urged Parliament to look at the inconsistencies to make the law a workable instrument.

Mr. Angel Kabonu, NAGRAT Secretary General, called on the three unions to participate in every discussion on the decentralization at all levels so that they could include their input into the final document.

The Education Act, 2008, Act 778 passed in January 2009 to provide for the establishment of an educational system intended to produce well balanced individuals with the requisite knowledge, skills, values, aptitudes and attitudes to become functional and productive citizens for the total development and the democratic advancement of the nation, and for related matters.

The Act reads in part, “Within twelve months of the coming into force of this Act, the Ghana Education Service Act,1995 (Act 506) shall be amended to conform with the provisions of this Act.”