By Prince Acquah
Cape Coast, April 15, GNA – The Institute for Educational Planning and Administration (IEPA) at the University of Cape Coast (UCC) has challenged managements of schools to devise innovative ways to raise resources to support their activities.
The Institute proposed that active resource mobilisation including fundraising must be made an integral part of school administration particularly at the primary and secondary levels in the ongoing educational sector review.
Prof Michael Boakye-Yiadom, the Director-General of IEPA, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), explained that school heads needed to raise funds to augment government’s subvention.
He acknowledged that the funding of education was primarily government’s responsibility but quickly indicated that government had not been able to adequately fund education.
He observed that budgetary allocation for education over the years had never been enough despite the persistent calls for increments.
“Which means, as educational institutions, we must find ways to provide and look for additional funding for our schools,” he noted.
“I am encouraging school heads to understand the reality that government has not been able to do everything for the schools and as individual schools and schools under religious organisations, we must find ways to provide additional funding,” he stressed.
Prof Boakye-Yiadom further advocated for an enhanced relationship between academia and industry to strengthen practical learning to prepare students adequately for the world of work.
He stressed that students must be taught not only to write examinations but to prepare them for skills and for life.
“As teachers teach, school heads must understand that it is not just about passing examinations but about the world of work, skills and life,” he maintained.
As part of the reforms, the IEPA Director-General said the academic system must promote empathy and value-driven education to inculcate traditional Ghanaian and African values in students.
“We must develop them within the school system so that if I went through the Ghanaian education system, one would expect that values such as honesty, integrity, and kindness will be part of the graduate,” he said.
GNA
AT /LAA