Child Rights International, a Non-Governmental Organization, has expressed their commitment to insist on politicians fulfilling their promises so far as education is concerned through the signing of MoUs.
Child Rights International in partnership with Action for Rural Education and with funding from STAR Ghana is implementing the Education Agenda 2015 (EA-2015) Project.
EA-2015 aims at developing a civil society education manifesto, through extensive consultation with civil society in Ghana, for the purpose of engaging political parties in the 2012 political campaign season.
The project will also engage political parties on the Education Strategic Plan 2010-2020, thereby committing them to implement the broad policy plans embodied in the ESP 2010-2020, and also specific policy proposal embodied in the Civil Society Education Manifesto.
The objective of this manifesto is to secure commitment of political parties on the ESP 2010-2020 and the civil society education manifesto.
Per their research and other findings, they realized that the level of education has dropped due to the fact that politicians say one thing and does the other. Apart from that majority of the teachers in the various sectors (Kindergarten, Primary, Junior High and Senior High) are not getting the opportunity to acquire more knowledge.
At the launch of the Civil Society (CS) Education Manifesto, Mr. Bright Kweku Appiah, Executive Director of Child Rights International said it is about time politicians are held accountable to their words.
According to him, he finds it hard to understand how politicians claim to take laptops to places where there are no electricity and still insists on fulfilling their promises concerning education.
He said the group is going to enter into an agreement with the politicians and encourage them to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
He made emphasis on the fact that since the country is in an election year, the group is going to pay particular attention to the manifesto that will be read by the various politicians and hold them to their words as far as education is concerned.
Mr. Appiah said it is in view of this that the Civil Society (CS) Education Manifesto is being launched.
According to him, the project will adopt an advocacy strategy to position education issues at the highest level of political discourse, to commit political parties to implement the CS Education manifesto and to commit political parties to implement the Education Strategy Plan (2010-2020) without making any fundamental changes.
�All of us are part of the civil society and that is why we are not leaving the media out�we want to see how best we can influence politicians and political parties to buy into the strategic plan as the basis for drafting the political manifestos. We are going to build consensus with people�we want the politicians to commit themselves to the CS Education manifesto discussion as well as the strategic plan and we need the media to help us�to commit the political parties, we are also going to sign a memorandum of understanding with them; so that when they come into office we can hold them to it. We are not going to leave any political party to make any statement when it comes to education�,� he said.
Below is a copy of their statement.
LAUNCH OF CIVIL SOCIETY EDUCATION MANIFESTO THE EDUCATION AGENDA 2015 PROJECT
Objective
To secure commitment of political parties on the ESP 2010-2020 and the civil society education manifesto.
Strategic Approach
Multi stakeholders Consultation: the EA-2015 project Approach shall entail a multi stakeholder consultative strategy to elicit varying opinion on alternative education policy proposals from CSOs nationwide at the district, regional and national. This will include Parent Teacher Associations, NGOs, Trade Unions, Faith Based Organizations (FBOs), Student Unions, Media, Academia, Education research Institutions and Traditional Authority.
Consensus
Achieving consensus on policy proposals to the incoming Government shall require Civil Society (CS) consensus. Through the EA-2015 project�s consultative platforms, consensus on major policy proposals to the next political administration shall be secured from the purpose of unifying our civil society voices in our advocacy for quality basic, secondary and tertiary education in Ghana.
Review of education reports
Apart from consultative meetings with CSO�s, EA-2015 project will review key reports on the performance of the education sector in Ghana, taking into cognizance imminent issues and the practicability of policy recommendations, given the four year time left to achieve key MDG targets in education. Communiqu�s, position papers of membership based CSOs will also be reviewed and given the required prominence in the CS manifesto, based on the consent of the wider civil society constituency in Ghana.
Information, Education and Communication
The validated CS Education Manifesto will be published and shared nationwide. It will not only be a tool for creating civil and political awareness on the centrality of the education agenda to the general electoral debates, but also a yardstick for measuring the responsiveness of political party education manifestoes to the pressing educational issues in Ghana. It will also serve as a mobilizing base for encouraging public political debates around education and development issues, instead of the usual partisan debates.
Advocacy
The project will adopt a comprehensive advocacy strategy to:
- Position education issues at the highest level of political discourse
- Commit political parties to implement the CS education manifesto
- Commit political parties to implement the Education Strategy Plan (2010-2020) without making any fundamental changes.
This shall be achieved through:
Media alliance
Nationwide strategic alliances with key and influential media contacts will be employed to achieve a high media premium on education issues during the political season in 2012. The projects will subsequently enhance the capacity of selected media contacts to appreciate, buy-in and articulate the Civil Society Positions articulated in the CS education manifesto.
Interface engagement with political parties
The project will engage political party leaders on the CS education manifesto, while lobbying them to sign Memorandum of Understanding with the citizenry, to implement policy proposals outlined in the CS education manifesto if voted into government.
Networking
EA-2015 project will create strategic alliance with CSOs in order to deepen the scope and reach of its issue and policy based education advocacy. Through the Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition and the Project�s media network,, the Cs education manifesto advocacy message shall disseminate to all districts in Ghana and create the required public awareness for political action.
Accountability advocacy
Upon the successful assumption into office, EA-2015 project shall engage the political party in government and monitor the implementation of policy proposals contained in the CS education manifesto to ensure a successful finish of the MDG race in 2015.
Key activities
- Organize political party conference on the ESP 2010-2020 and CS education manifesto
- Organize three zonal CS consultations to produce CS Manifesto on education
- Hold a meeting with Political parties to sign MoU on ESP and CS education manifesto
- Organize media campaign on CS manifesto
- Validate and publish CS manifesto
Conclusion
Education will remain our number one resolve and critical analyses are going to be made on the various political manifesto promises towards Education.
Source: Rebecca Addo Tetteh/Peacefmonline.com
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