John Mahama has exhorted private schools to alter their strategies so they can capitalize on the digital revolution.
In a highly competitive global economy, he claimed that exploring the digital transformation in education was the way to go because it improved teaching and learning.
Last Wednesday in Koforidua, Eastern Region, Mr. Mahama delivered a speech at the eighth biennial delegates conference of the Ghana National Association of Private Schools (GNAPS).
Repositioning private schools in the era of digital growth was the focus of the two-day conference.
The GNAPS leadership was also tasked by the former president with internalizing the underlying principles of digital-indexed pedagogy and demonstrating a practical dedication to the advancement of e-teaching and e-learning.
“Private schools have expanded access to education, deepened quality and depth and provided alternatives in our national agenda to ensure that no child is left behind in obtaining adequate knowledge and skills in this increasingly competitive world,” he said.
FREE SHS.
Mr. Mahama expressed concern regarding the government’s policy guiding the implementation of the free SHS, including the implementation of the double-track system.
Despite being a method for controlling rising student enrollment, he claimed that the double-track system had a negative impact on students’ education because it resulted in fewer contact hours and more free time without supervision.
The former president claimed that there were numerous private SHSs that already existed and had the infrastructure needed to prevent the immediate infrastructural deficits that the system had caused in public schools.
He said the government was showing a lukewarm attitude toward such suggestions because “politics might have taken a better part of the government,” despite the fact that experts and stakeholders were ready and willing to put their wealth of experience and knowledge at its disposal to address the issues plaguing the free SHS policy.
The former president claimed that social democracy and private sector involvement in education had come together.
He claimed that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) saw private schools as complementary in enhancing equal access to opportunities for everyone because of this.
Mr. Mahama emphasized the importance of establishing a strong foundation for early childhood education.
I challenge the private schools to put the primary school level at the center of your strategic repositioning agenda because this is where we must get it right, he continued.
CHALLENGES
Dr Damasus Tuurosong, President of GNAPS, said state institutions that were supposed to support private schools during the COVID-19 pandemic rather failed them.
“Instead of assisting us to brave the storm of economic hardship as private schools, some state institutions are worsening our plight through their actions and inaction, pronouncements and deliberate sabotage,” he claimed.
Further, Mr. Tuurosong claimed that the Ministry of Education frequently disregarded private schools in its efforts to promote high standards of education, saying: “This is a clear discrimination against private schools.”