Accra (Greater Accra) 12 March '99

The Ministry of Education will soon come out with a new policy and guidelines on establishment of new schools. This will ensure that they conform to the criteria of the country's educational system, Mr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Minister of Education, said on Thursday. Mr Spio-Garbrah was speaking at a meeting with members of the Conference of Managers of Educational Units (COMEU) to discuss a memorandum they submitted to the Minister covering the educational reforms, decentralisation and FCUBE, among other subjects. COMEU is an association of general managers and regional managers and directors of Armed Forces and Police Educational units. Mr Spio-Garbrah said the government is aware of the enormous contributions religious bodies have made in education but warned the government " will not approve of the establishment of new schools, especially training colleges, if government has to bear the cost". Mr Spio-Garbrah said the bulk of the ministry's budget is geared towards the success of the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) adding that expansion of schools would put extra financial burden on the government and disrupt the ministry's educational programme. Mr Spio-Garbrah said he has received a copy of the GES Council's recommendations on the role of the education units and most of the problems raised at the meeting have been addressed. "It is not the intention of government or the ministry to marginalise COMUE," he said and assured members that copies of the recommendations would be forwarded to them. The Minister appealed to international and national non-governmental organisations (NGOs), private organisations, communities, parents and individuals to supplement government's effort of providing cost- effective education. Mr Kwabena Kyere, Deputy Minister of Education, who chaired the meeting, observed that there was no representation from the Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches and called for their inclusion in COMUE. Mr Ishaque Kojo Essel, General Manager of the Ahmadiyya Educational Unit, who led COMUE, said the educational units have been marginalised since the commencement of the education reform programme in 1987. He said their case has been worsened by the implementation of the decentralisation policy. "GES was bent on making the unit managers redundant by giving almost all their roles to the District Directors of the GES without our knowledge". Mr Essel said this has led to open confrontation among some regional managers of the units and GES District Directors and appealed to the minister to spell out their roles properly.