President John Dramani Mahama has commended the Ministry of Education and its allied agencies for the work accomplished since he assumed office.
He stated that his administration has developed a tracker to monitor all the promises the National Democratic Congress (NDC) made to Ghanaians, and according to the tracking results, the Ministry of Education has performed exceptionally well.
President Mahama made these remarks during the launch of the free Tertiary Education for Persons Living with Disabilities (PWDs).
In his address, he stated: “let me thank Haruna and his team in the Education Sector and to commend you and congratulate you for the hard work that you’ve done to realise most of the promises most of the promises we put in the 2024 manifesto.
We have a manifesto dashboard board where we are tracking the promises that we made and I must say that the Education Sector is very ahead in terms of implementation.”
He specifically acknowledged the Minister, his Deputy Dr. Clement Apaak, the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund), the Students Loan Trust Fund, the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), and other agencies under the Ministry for their collective efforts in achieving successes within the sector.
Below are the promises in the NDC’s Manifesto
Transforming Education
We will:
1. Introduce the ‘Bright Beginnings Initiative’ to revive early childhood education for the well-being of Ghanaian children and facilitate seamless integration into continuous schooling and lifelong learning.
2. Launch a ‘Furniture for All Initiative’ in partnership with the local carpentry and furniture industry to address the acute deficit at the basic school level.
3. Significantly improve the pupil-to-textbook ratio through the comprehensive provision of curriculum-based textbooks.
4. Embark on an aggressive infrastructure drive to address the increasing phenomenon of schools under trees and rehabilitate dilapidated school buildings.
5. Improve the free SHS programme by providing a dedicated and sustainable funding source.
6. Decentralise the procurement of food for Senior High Schools to boost local economies.
7. Abolish the double-track system to restore a stable onetrack academic calendar.
8. Embark on an emergency infrastructure drive to complete abandoned E-blocks and expand infrastructure in existing SHS and TVET institutions.
9. Continue our policy of providing free laptops/tablets for students.
10. Equip Science Resource Centres in all schools across the regions to support STEM/TVET education.
11. Review the Computerized School Selection & Placement System (CSSPS) to make it merit-based and address corruption.
12. Commence the establishment of regional TVET Centres of Excellence equipped with state-of-the-art facilities to promote innovation and simulate natural work environments.
13. Promote the recognition of the Prior Learning Certification/ Step-Up Certification (SEC) programme to enable artisans in the informal sector to validate and improve their skills and knowledge for academic and career progression.
14. Implement a ‘No-Academic-Fee’ policy for first-year students in all public tertiary institutions, including Universities, Colleges of Education and Nursing Training Colleges.
15. Provide continuing students with financial assistance by reintroducing and redeploying our Student Loan Trust Fund Plus and a reformed scholarship regime.
16. Provide Free Tertiary Education to all persons with disabilities.
17. Provide allowances, student loans, scholarships and other funding options for teachers and nurses.
18. Improve subventions to public universities and ensure timely disbursements.
19. Promote the establishment of Tertiary Endowment Funds (TEF) in partnership with alumni, philanthropists and corporate Ghana, among others, to support students in public tertiary universities.
20.Implement a ‘Bed-for-All’ programme by building on-campus affordable student hostels and expanding accommodation facilities through Public-Private Partnerships with universities.
We will also:
21. Introduce legislation to streamline and regulate the awarding of government scholarships and prohibit the award of scholarships to political appointees.
22. Halt the collateralisation of the GETFund and restore it to its original mandate of educational financing.
23. Establish a National Research Fund to support and promote indigenous and commercialised research.
24. Abolish the teacher licensure examination and integrate the licensing process into the final year examination of trainees
25. Scrap the NPP’s mandatory national service policy for teacher trainee graduates and ensure the prompt employment of newly qualified teachers.
26. Prioritise the timely promotion of teachers and ensure the availability of funds for their remuneration.
27. Institute the ‘Teacher Dabr3’ Project to provide accommodation facilities for teachers within new and existing school buildings.
28. Introduce a special allowance—20 per cent of basic salary— for teachers who accept postings to rural and underserved communities.
29. Initiate a scheme to assist teachers own vehicles of their choice by offering flexible duty payment arrangements and employer guarantees in partnership with teacher unions and the banking sector.
30. Continue with our policy of establishing a public university in every region with a focus on newly-created regions
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
