Privatise schools to instil values - Prof. Owusu urges Presby church

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Professor Ebenezer Oduro Owusu, has urged the Presbyterian Church of Ghana to be bold and privatise its schools if it really wants to instill the values of the church in its students.

In the view of Prof. Owusu, who is a member of the Church, the core values upon which all of its schools were founded was gradually fading away, and warned that the principles of the church might not be upheld in future.

Speaking at the third Education Consultation for heads of Presbyterian Education Institutions at Abokobi near Madina last Tuesday, he indicated that so long as the church relied on the government for running of its schools, enforcement of its religious values would be problematic.

The forum assembled all heads of the various Presbyterian educational institutions to render an account on their activities in the year under review and brainstorm ways to enhance quality education in the schools.

Be bold

"The church should be bold enough to make an indication that they want to run their schools purely on business so in that case, they are going to ask government to stay out of it. So the government’s contribution will be no more. The school will take care of everything and then they can institute their values.

"Otherwise, if they sit and allow government to be paying remunerations, then of course there is no way they can take over and the rules of Ghana Education Service will forever prevail over the church’s," he said.

Concerns

Prof. Owusu's remarks come on the back of widespread concerns among faith-based schools about their inability to fully enforce the adoption of its religious and moral tenets in the schools.

These concerns were amplified when an Accra High Court, recently, ruled in favour of two Rastafarian students who had earlier been denied admission into the Achimota Senior High School on grounds that they refused to shave their dreadlocks.

Whereas some human and child rights activists hailed the ruling, a substantial block of public opinion opposed the ruling, fearing that "it would open the floodgates for indiscipline in the schools."

Privatisation

Prof. Owusu further indicated that although it may be challenging for the church to fully manage its schools at the initial stages, it would be successful if "they think through with time."

“The church can float shares and allow people to buy shares to run the schools. They may also look elsewhere for an amount of money but the schools will be purely run on business and through that it would be able to generate enough money to pay back" he proposed.

Moderator

Later in an interview, the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, Rt Rev. Prof. Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante welcomed Prof. Owusu's proposal, saying the church was very much concerned about the moral development of children in its schools.

He, however, indicated that the issue of ensuring morale value could not be done alone by the Presbyterian Church, but would require society at large to agree on building an environment that would encourage the acceptance of essential moral and social values.

"We are not happy about how individuals these days are interpreting personal and human freedoms. The very important discipline that every nation needs is moral education and that's why we think that good education should be done in an environment of serious moral values," he said.

For his part, a deputy Minister of Education, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour said the Ministry Education had thoroughly engaged all faith-based organisations for the development of universal guidelines to regulate the activities of faith-based schools in the country.