Ghana’s Education System needs a devolution:

The state of Ghana’s Educational Decentralisation Policy

International experience with decentralisation has motivated a well-known typology. This and other typologies for Ghana have the limitation that decentralisation experience in the region is still at an incipient stage.

In most decentralized countries typologies begin with the necessary orientation to deconcentration, devolution and delegation. Recently, attention has been focused equally if not more on devolution to schools and school management committees (commonly called school autonomy and school-based management) at the grassroots level.

As part of the ongoing Education Decentralization Roadmap Campaign Project, Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC) in collaboration with STAR-GHANA advocates for a more effective management system for public basic education in Ghana. 

People have argued that given the structures and functions of education system in Ghana, the system is already decentralised and this goes to question why some tink tanks and professionals are still asking for a more decentralised system of education particularly at the basic level.

But it is important to know that the falling standards in our educational outcomes cannot be overlooked. Many Civil Society Organizations (CSOs)if not all have demonstrated their support towards government commitment to the broad education reforms in conjunction to the National Education Decentralisation policy as an implementation guide.

The current nature of Ghana’s education decentralisation agenda is delegation at the Sub-metropolitan Assembly level, deconcentration at the regional level and devolution at the district level.Delegation provides that the Ministry of Education has the power to make policies, plans, evaluate and monitor.

At the regional level is deconcentration were the departments operate as extension of the national level where plans and programmes of the assemblies are harmonized and coordinated.

Devolution on the other hand is that the district assemblies must have clearly defined functions, own their budget, have structures to promote and enhance probity, accountability and transparency, manage their own resources and adequate capacity to deliver on their mandate and can sue or be sued.

Education cannot be managed like any other sector; the country requires a devolution type of the education decentralisationwith major focus in shifting responsibility over finances, management and operations to the District Assemblies.

For instance, Ghanaians and tink tanks have seen no reason why teachers in the Districts Assemblies had to travel to Accra for a leave of absence, promotion, requests for chalk and textbooks. Most often times, the text books given to the schoolsare sometimes locked up until an order from Accra before embarking on any distribution exercise.

The Circuit Supervisors who monitor and examine teachers performance in the classrooms in the districts have cannot decide who ought or who ought not to be paid salary based on performance average, whiles GESheadquarters which has no direct contact with these teachers on the field continue to pay them without knowing without checks. These have led to laxity, absenteeism, poor teaching, and lack of respect for the school authorities.

The biggest problem about the current system is that decisions are taken by the central government in Accra without the grassroots participation. So decisions that could easilybe addressed within a small pace by the local authorities takes months and years for GES to respond.This was because the bureaucratic processes in the education management structure created a loophole fordecentralisation to operate freely.

The Possibilities of Education Decentralisation in Ghana

There is by now a vast accumulated international experience with education decentralization, the most widespread and far-reaching decentralization reforms have occurred in Latin America.

According to an August 2003 research document by Alec Ian Gershberg and Donald R. Winkler, titled ‘education decentralization in Africa- a review of recent policy and practice”, examples of education decentralization outside Africa which have received significant attention in recent years include Argentina, Chile, New Zealand, Armenia, Brazil, El Salvador, The Netherlands and The Memphis, Tennessee.

These international countries are practicing devolution system of decentralization as part of their educational reforms and sector management. These notable countries have successfully practiced devolution where responsibilities for financing and providing education from the central government has been devolved to its provincial governments (with elected governors and parliaments), to its municipal governments (with elected mayors and city councils) while the central government retained responsibilities for assessing student performance and for financing specific programmes i.e. for Argentina and Chile.

New Zealand, which formerly had a highly centralized national education system, created an elected school board with parents as the only members and gave them the responsibility to select their own school managers and recruit their own teachers with funds from the central government.

Following suit, Ghana’s basic school system must be revamped more significantly by embracing the examples of successful countries.

The Ministry of Education (MoE) is required by the national policy to ensure education decentralization in the Country. In other words; the educational decentralisation policy is in tandem with the National Decentralisation Policy Framework (NDPF) of Government of Ghana.

So under education decentralization reforms, the GES will still be active but would no longer be called GES. It will be devolved (transferred) to the district assemblies as Department of Education, Youth and Sports; no title like the District Director of Education.

The Ministry of Finance which usually transfer monies to GES headquarters would be transferred to MMDAs and by extension for the Department of Education, Youth and Sports (DEYS).

So in effect, when we have full education decentralisation particularly devolution, theDirector of Department of Education, Youth and Sports will take  funding from the  MMDA account meant for Department of Education Youth and Sports which is coded and fenced for the DEYS under the  composite budgeting system.

The outstanding issues inhibiting the implementation of ED

In all the major efforts for an improved access to education, educational decentralization is affected and hindered by legal issues involving two conflicting Acts. The Ghana Education Service Act, 1995 ( Act506) and the Education Act, 2008 (Act 778).

The conflict is that, whereas Act 506 suggests a de-concentrated education service, Act 778 on the other hand is backing for a devolved education service at the basic level.

A 2013 report launched by Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC) stated that the continuing operation of both laws thus portends a confused and dysfunctional system for implementation and until steps are taken to adopt the devolution system, our quality and standard of education will never improve.

THE WAYFORWARD

The EC is organizing a referendum to have 50% Ghanaians accept the Constitutional Review Commission’s recommendations. For instance one of the recommendations is for the election of MMDCEs etc.And the EC wants to add the process to the District Assembly Elections.

But moving forward, we will never achieve our ultimate dream of making basic education quality for our young childrenif our policy makers refuse to change their attitudes towards education decentralisation.

Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC),

National Secretariat,

+233 (0)302521650.