The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) will in February this year launch a manifesto on education to highlight priority areas in the sector which require immediate attention for improvement and spur realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The General Secretary of GNAT, Thomas Musah, said the manifesto would provide a blueprint on how Ghana’s education should be managed and how to develop the sector through various models and collaborations.
Speaking in an interview with Ghanaian Times in Accra yesterday, he said that, as professionals in the educational sector, GNAT was poised to support government in initiating plans and programmes to modernise the country’s education and develop the much-needed human capital for development.
He stated that GNAT was adopting a proactive approach which involves the publication of tested models and policies that could inform government’s agenda to transform the educational sector.
“GNAT as an organisation has been a stakeholder in Ghana’s educational sector for decades. With that experience over the years, we believe we are well-placed to develop a manifesto that can influence government policies and draw attention to challenges to the implementation of policies.
We want to put out our position on how education should be managed in the country and policies which should be considered to make Ghana’s education sector grow. We are avoiding a reactionary approach where the politicians are allowed to carry out their programmes and then proffer solutions when things go bad,” Mr Musah added.
Although the organisation was supportive of government’s decision to develop a new curriculum, he said GNAT was concerned about the provision of the tools and equipment needed for its effective implementation.
Currently, he noted that teachers and students were yet to be provided with teaching and learning materials which are based on the new curriculum lamenting that such delays would negatively affect the implementation of the curriculum.
“The development of a new curriculum is a good idea but if these teething challenges are not addressed, we will not achieve the expected benefits. GNAT is ever committed to help government in this regard, just as we have done in the past years, to improve our educational sector,” he added.
Another concern, the General Secretary said, was poor supervision especially at schools in the hinterlands due to the absence of the needed tools and equipment.
For GNAT members, he said the association has prioritised healthcare initiatives, including scaling-up of the cancer fund to include other sicknesses as part of efforts to improve their welfare.
Additionally, an affordable housing scheme would soon be rolled out to address the housing challenges of members while the leadership was still in engagement with government over payment of teachers’ salary arrears.
BY CLAUDE NYARKO ADAMS
