Bolgatanga (UE), May 6, GNA - Ms. Benedicta Naana Biney, Acting Director General, Ghana Education Service (GES), has charged stakeholders in education, in the Upper East Region, to be committed to targets they set to improve pre-tertiary education delivery in the region. Ms Biney made the call in a speech read on her behalf by Mr Lionel K. Mensah, Inspectorate Unit (GES), at the end of a two-day regional education review forum in Bolgatanga. The objective of the forum was to provide a platform for managers of schools and stakeholders in education to assess the overall educational status quo, consolidate the achievements made during the past year, and identify challenges, as well as chart a way forward for the coming year. The forum also sought to enhance accountability and transparency, among all stakeholders in education in the region, facilitate information sharing on good practices across the region and track district performance for attention of policy makers at regional and national levels. Ms Biney enumerated areas of concern, previous reviews recommended, in relation to improving pre-tertiary education delivery in the country. She said the forum aimed at working out access to quality education, science and technology and to promote female enrolment, among others.

She said the forum would further help to set up information communication and technology support teams (ICTESTs) in regional and district offices in the areas of education, finance and management. She said steps taken to address the prioritized issues for education delivery, included complimentary Basic Education Programme, of which a draft policy had been completed and awaiting approval from the Ministry of Education. Ms. Biney said the complimentary Basic Education Programme sought to provide an 93enabling teaching and learning environment, relevant to the mental growth of learners, who were disadvantaged as a result of unfavourable socio-economic and cultural practices, to acquire a minimum knowledge and skills for continuing education in the formal sector".

The Acting Director General said GES would raise the proportion of girls in the pupil group at all levels of pre-tertiary education, particularly at the second cycle level, and together with stakeholders in the sector, provide financial and material support to needy girls through scholarship programmes. She said stakeholders such as USAID and CAMFED had sponsored girls with special educational needs through the Basic Education Scholarship programme (BESP).

Mrs. Agnes Atagabe, Regional Director, GES, said the forum afforded participants an opportunity to subject their performance to scrutiny and together repackage their activities and the way forward. She praised the regional coordinating council for the immense support during the demonstrations of teachers in the region. In terms of physical structures, she said the region benefited from 53 buildings of various kinds in the educational sector, including dormitories, dining halls, classroom blocks, science laboratories, furniture, free school uniforms, free text and exercise books and increase in the capitation grant. She called for continuous support from all partners for improved quality of education in the region.