Dignitaries in a group photograph at the ongoing educational leadership programme in Accra
The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has partnered with the Ghana National Council of Private Schools (GNACOPS) to train 800 private school teachers and managers for the first phase of the educational leadership-sponsored programme in Accra.
The national training and retraining programme falls under the Ghana Cares Obaatapa initiative with a focus on skills upgrading, work ethics, productivity improvement, and attitudinal change aimed at developing professionalism in the private school sector education.
The five-day training programme is centred on four thematic areas; Educational Governance, Curriculum Development, School Management, and Financial Management to help beef up the operations of private schools education to meet the standards and requirements of the government.
The Head of the International and Regional Economic Policy Unit under the Economic Strategy and Research Division of the Ministry of Finance (MoF), Enoch Obeng-Darko in his address noted that the development of the training programme was against the backdrop of the impact of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic on private schools in the country.
“This is the call against the backdrop of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The government initiated certain programmes which supported public education teachers. But we were also informed that the private sector in terms of those who owned schools and teachers suffered adversely from the pandemic.
It is against this the background that the government met with its social supporting partners; the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, (MoELR), and the Organised Labour and Employment Association to see how best it can put in place a mechanism to support the private education sector and the hospitality industry”, he said.
According to Mr. Obeng-Darko, a similar programme was being held by different educational institutions across the country to help build the teaching capacity of teachers and school owners.
On his part, the Executive Director of GNACOPS, Enoch Kwesi Gyetuah said the leadership programme allowed private school owners to establish a long-lasting partnership with the MoF in the area of capacity enhancement which would lead to optimal productivity.
He further explained that supervisors from the University of Education, Winneba, Trade Union Congress (TUC), National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA), and other institutions would be present to monitor the programme.
Moreover, the Deputy Registrar in charge of Professional Operations at the National Teaching Council (NTC), Lawrence Sarpong entreated the beneficiaries of the programme to deliver educational content in line with the national goals of the country.
He opined that the educational system was going through different forms of transformation and that it behooves private schools to learn and adapt to the changes in the educational system to catch up with the global trend.
There were also solidarity messages from the Private Education Coalition (PEC), National Schools Inspectorate Authority (NaSIA), NaCCA, and other implementing partners.
BY Prince Fiifi Yorke