The Ghana Partnership Schools Policy, which has been introduced by the Ministry of Education, will be piloted in the Ashanti, Central, Greater Accra and Northern Regions to improve the performance of public basic schools in the country.
The policy, which is expected to last for three years, is to start in September, this year.
It’s also aimed at changing the operational system of over 100 basic schools from state control to private.
Executive Director of Greenfield Education Consult, Dr. Prince Hamidu Armah, in an interview with the media, said: “It’s anticipated that during the process, our public schools will learn from the experiences in the private sector and that is the principle behind the policy.”
Dr. Prince Hamidu Armah, who is also a consultant with the Education Ministry, indicated that the policy is not about the privatization of schools but leveraging the expertise of the private sector.
He pointed out that the government schools would not be privatized and that the programme would have no financial burden on parents.
“We know public schools are not doing well so we looked at the potential partnership between the private and public sector, and that is what has informed what we call the Ghana Partnership School programme.”
He gave assurance that the programme would help improve management in public schools for better results.
“Under the programme, there will be effective supervision of teachers in public schools. If the head teachers are not happy with the behaviour of a teacher, they could ask the Ghana Education Service to bring them a new teacher. So here, we are looking at how the private schools have performed by ensuring accountability.”
Meanwhile, some teacher unions in the country have opposed the policy, indicating that it only seeks to privatize and eventually commercialize Ghana’s education sector.
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