Accra, Oct. 18, GNA - Link Community Development (LCD), a nongovernmental organisation (NGO) working to enhance the quality of basic education in the rural areas, on Wednesday called for effective management and monitoring by the Ghana Education Service (GES) to improve the education system.

The NGO, which works with the GES and adheres to Government policies, said the Government's capacity building programmes and primacy of planning, evaluation and accountability were needed if the country was to bridge the gap between education among rural and urban children. LCD, a South African-based NGO, was established in Ghana in 1999 and has worked with 111 schools in the Upper East, Ashanti and Greater Accra Regions.

LCD also operates in Uganda, Malawi and South Africa. Presenting the LCD's research findings to members of the GES and donor agencies at a dissemination workshop in Accra, Mr Ebrahim Farista, International Programme Director, said the complexities of decentralisation, resource deficiencies and rudimentary information systems were some of the problems facing the education system. He said there was the need to encourage participation in policy formulation to ensure ownership and give incentives to teachers in the rural areas to give of their best.

Dr Rosina Acheampong, Chairperson of LCD Board, Ghana, who is also a Retired Deputy Director-General of Education, said the LCD worked within Government's policies to ensure that the education decentralisation programme was met.

She said education was an unqualified human right and LCD was working to provide equal quality education opportunities for all children of school-going age to develop their talents and contribute meaningfully towards the socio-economic development of the country. She said there was the need to improve the lives of rural children and LCD had updated its data base with accurate tools to capture school performance indicators for effective policy-making and implementation to benefit every child.

Mr Stephen Blunden, Chief Executive of LCD, and Dr Kennedy Quaigrain, Ghana Programme Director, said LCD would continue to work with the GES to achieve the highest standards in rural schools.