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Private pre-tertiary schools asked to obtain insurance cover

The Inspector General of the National Schools Inspectorate Authority (NaSIA), Dr Haggar Hilda Ampadu has advised stakeholders in private pre-tertiary schools to prioritise insurance policies to protect their lives and properties.

Participants at the conference

That, she said, had become imperative due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on businesses, especially, private schools.

Dr Ampadu also indicated that NaSIA had recently received a letter from the National Insurance Commission (NIC) demanding that all business entities, including both public and private schools under the NaSIA obtain insurance cover on its facilities.

Dr Ampadu gave the advice during a private education stakeholder conference organised by the Africa Centre for Policy Development and Planning (ACPDP), an advocacy and result oriented think-tank.

The Conference which was on the topic “Stakeholders engagement on Child Education Support Policy (CESP)” brought together various stakeholders in the private educational sector, regulators, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Parliamentary Select Committee on Education and other development partners.

As a flagship programme of the ACPDP, the CESP sought to support private schools post COVID-19 period and came in three dimensions namely the school insurance, school improvement and the compliance and regulations.

Similarly, the benefits from the flagship policy under the aforementioned dimensions had been grouped in three categories namely A, B and C with different sum of monies and other incentive packages assured.

According to Dr Ampadu, the formulation of the CESP was a laudable one and timely considering its benefits to not only the children but also parents.

“I always look at best practice in what we do here in Ghana. If you look at other jurisdiction, they have similar approaches where when you are out of work in case of bereavement, the schooling of the child does not suffer.

It is not a government programme. It is a private entity that has come up to help. Now if you are a parent and you deem it fit and you contribute to it, then it’s like any kind of insurance and you will get the benefit from it”, she said.

Dr Ampadu continued that the CESP was a demonstration of the fact that in as much as the Ministry of Education (MoE) was responsible for all policy development and implementation, it was not the sole preserve of the government.

“The law empowers Associations and other stakeholders to develop and implement policies in line with their vision and to a large extension, the vision of the MoE”, Dr Ampadu added.

The Executive Director of the Ghana National Council of Private Schools (GNACOPS), Mr Enoch Kwasi Gyetuah, explained that one of the issues that was predominant during the COVID-19 era was on insurance packages for private school teachers as well as their security.

“As part of strategies to put private schools on track, we had to consult some think-tank and fortunately we laid our hands on ACPDP and they have come up with a policy called the CESP”, he said.

For his part, the General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Private Schools (GNAPS), Mr Justice King Essiel, noted that for schools to improve, there was the need to strengthen its academic activities which required appropriate measures being taken.

BY BENJAMIN ARCTON-TETTEY

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