Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC) has called on government through the Ministry of Education to allow Conference of Heads of Government Assisted Schools to choose their own caterers to purchase food stuffs from the open market.

The group explained that allowing heads of Senior High Schools (SHSs) to contract their own suppliers and caterers will bring about proper supervision of the programme.

GNECC, a network of over 200 Civil Society Organizations committed to promoting free, quality and enjoyable basic education as a fundamental human right for every Ghanaian child by monitoring policies and fostering dialogues among citizens on issues relating to education delivery made the call at the launch of the 2018 Global Action Week for education.

Speaking at the event held at the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences in Accra, the Executive Council Chairman who doubles as the Executive Director of Child’s Right International, Mr Bright Appiah, appealed to government to make 50% advance payment of the expected budget to all SHS by first September each year based on the capacity of each school and pay the other half when the term ends to sustain the Free SHS initiatives.

According to him, GNECC, had critically assessed the performance of Ghana’s education sector over the last one year after the introduction of the Free SHS programme as well as other key policy initiatives in line with the education, governance and accountability thematic strategy and suggested that the capitation grant should be reviewed every two years.

He also called on government to increase the supply of teaching and learning materials to schools to improve learning.

Mr Appiah also appealed to government to provide the necessary tools which will help our educational institutions to improve.

Mr Appiah however, maintained that government alone cannot achieve quality, equitable and inclusive education.

He therefore called on stakeholders in the educational sector to help government achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 4 which calls for inclusive and equal education for all.

This year’s campaign is on the theme: ”Strengthening citizen participation and accountability in the education management: Milestone for achieving SDG4”

By Franklin ASARE-DONKOH