The Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC) has called on the Ghana Education Service (GES) to revoke the licenses of teachers involved in examination malpractice and to publicly publish their names.
This request follows the arrest of three teachers in Bekawi and two invigilators at Gyinigyini in the Jaman North District on Monday, July 8, the first day of the 2024 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
They were apprehended by operatives of the National Intelligence Bureau and GES officials.
Incidents of malpractice during the annual examination have raised significant concerns about its integrity.
Speaking to Starr News, Bernice Mpare Gyekye, Coordinator for the Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC), emphasized the necessity of revoking the licenses of these teachers as a deterrent to others.
“This is where GES should take strict measures to make sure that these teachers are severely punished and the learners are also punished according to law. And then we publish them with their names and pictures all over the media and this is going to serve as a deterrent for others to desist from such acts.
“For teachers who are aiding students to engage in malpractice, their licenses should be withdrawn with immediate effect and even if possible prosecution should come in. When this is done it will deter others from doing same.”
The Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC) has urged for a comprehensive nationwide public awareness campaign on the LGBTQ+ bill before its potential enactment into law.
Mr. Kobina Afena-Sam, the Bono Regional Chairman of GNECC, emphasized the importance of ensuring that the public is well-informed about the provisions of the bill.
While acknowledging the positive aspects of the bill, he emphasized the need for the populace to have a clear understanding of its contents. This understanding would enable them to comply with the intended objectives and principles of the bill once it becomes law.
Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Sunyani on the Coalition’s position on the LGBTQ+ bill, Mr Afena-Sam said, “Any discerning Ghanaian would push for the passage of the bill into law.”
However, he expressed concerns about the potential consequences if there is not an intensified effort to educate the public about the bill’s content before it is passed into law.
Without proper understanding, there is a risk that some individuals may take matters into their own hands and engage in abuse or mistreatment of those affected by the bill.
Mr Afena-Sam stressed that beyond religion, Ghanaians strongly frowned and condemned sexual immorality, perversion and “strange lusts,” saying, “The passage of the bill is timely and would preserve the nation’s diverse culture that reflects the true identity of the people.”
“But, I think as a nation we need to upscale public sensitisation on the bill. Virtually all Ghanaians frown on LBGTQI+ and if we don’t take our time and sensitise the populace on the bill, people could go lawless and attack suspects, but Ghana is not a lawless country,” he stated.
Describing the LBGTQ+ activities as alien to the Ghanaian culture, faith and spirituality, Mr Afena-Sam said naturally it was not the purpose of God for “men to sleep with men or women to sleep with women,” and therefore urged Parliament to remain resolute in its decision to pass the bill into law.
“I understand the pressure from the LBGTQI+ community and other development partners is too much, but I think Parliament and Ghanaians must remain unyielding and pass the bill in our own interest,” he stated.
Mr Afena-Sam, nonetheless, said the passage of the bill into law did not warrant or allowed the populace to abuse offenders, saying nobody had the right or justification to take the law in his or her hands and mete worse forms of human rights abuses on wrongdoers.
An educational consultant and think organization, Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch), has tasked government to distribute desks to public basic schools in the country.
According toEduwatch one million desks are needed in these schools to enable successful teaching and learning.
That, it said, was because 2,330,893 basic school pupils did not have writing or seating places as of 2021.
Out of that number, it said, 596,949 were in Kindergarten, 1,308,479 were in Primary and 425,465 were in the Junior High School (JHS) and because the country operated a dual desk policy at the basic school level, over a million desks were needed to salvage the situation.
A Senior Programme Officer at Eduwatch, Divine Kpe, made this known during a presentation at the launch of the Global Action Week for Education (GAWE) by the Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC) held in Accra.
It was chaired by the Executive Director of Ghana Blind Union (GBU), Dr Peter Obeng Asamoah.
The primary goal of the celebration was the promotion of the global Sustainable Development Goal four (SDG 4) which is to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”
According to Mr Kpe, the furniture deficit situation had occurred because of increased funding for secondary infrastructure compared to that of the basic level.
He also said available data had indicated that the huge desk deficit was one of the major factors that discouraged some parents from sending their children to school.
“The lack of desks in schools affects children’s academic performance and may cause children not to find the school environment friendly to remain in school putting them at the risk of droping out of school,” he added.
Way forward
Mr Kpe urged the media and civil society organisations (CSOs) to let the public and the government know the implications of the desk situation in basic schools for the attainment of SDG 4 so as to empower the citizens in the communities to demand action from local government to address the problem.
He called for increased funding for basic education infrastructure development by uncapping the GETFund and reviewing the formula for the allocation of the Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) to reflect the needs of basic education infrastructure. Call on government
The vice chairman of GNECC, Joshua Nyumuah, said even though government was doing the best it could, more resources were needed to be channelled into the sub-sector to avoid an “educational accident.”
Education is not a privilege but rather a human right which has been enshrined in the SDG 4 for which GNECC is fighting then we have to use all the tools to lobby and advocate Ghana to do the needful,” Mr Nyumuah stressed.
There were solidarity messages from stakeholders in the education sector and partners of GNECC.
They were ActionAid, Oxfam, CAMFED, National Association of Graduate Teachers, Ghana National Association of Teachers, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, Ghana Education Service and the Complementary Education Agency.
