Promoting sustainable development through education: Resource state institutions adequately: New Year School tells govt

The 71st New Year School and Conference ended in Accra last Thursday with a call on the government to adequately resource state institutions charged with public education to enable them to promote positive learning on the principles, values and practices of sustainable national development.

A communique issued at the end of the conference and read by the Rapporteur General of the Conference, Dr Philip Mantey, said the institutions which included the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), played crucial roles in advancing constitutional democracy and national development, for which reason investing in them was in order.

The 18-point communique issued by the participants said the educational curricula from the basic to the tertiary level should be updated to inculcate and promote core Ghanaian values in the public.

It suggested that the curricula must be designed to encourage change in attitudes and behaviours that would create a more sustainable future in terms of environmental integrity, economic viability and a just society for the present and future population.

Ghana Beyond Aid

The communique recommended that the current political administration incorporated the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda into a consultative National Development Framework to be followed by all successive governments and backed by a bi-partisan legislation from parliament to ensure the continuation of the policy by all governments.

In order to ensure that the Ghana Beyond Aid becomes a national transformation agenda, the participants asked that the government’s exit strategy for aid should involve a comprehensive education on a new mindset and national orientation through advocacy and sensitisation of different demographic groups to ensure broader participatory development.

To ensure effective revenue mobilisation, the communique urged the government to aggressively pursue the drive to digitise and formalise the economy in addition to urgently reviewing the tax holiday and putting in place effective measures for the collection and payment of taxes.

Also, it recommended that the government reduce the nation’s internal and external debt to sustainable levels and pursue import-substitution, industrialisation and value addition to its exports to make the country more self-reliant.

"Government should reset Ghana’s international relationship policy to reflect the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda. We should develop and enhance our negotiation skills to explore more beneficial commercial and economic trade agreements," the communique said.

Human capital

On the development of human capital, the participants recommended that the government place emphasis on a more effective Science, Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET).

In doing that, action should be expedited on the retooling of TVET institutions in the country and increase support for the technical universities for the training of practically inclined human capital for the country.

"The government should, as a matter of urgency, commission a national skills gap or skills need assessment to determine the requisite human capital necessary for our development and actualising of the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda," the communique stated.

Promoting agriculture

To promote the agricultural sector, the New Year School urged the government to expedite action on the setting up of a National Development Bank to provide financial support for private sector development and to increase investments in agricultural, non-agricultural and agro-processing industrialisation.

Also, to ensure the sustainability of the agricultural sector and attract the youth, the participants recommended that the government empower and resource the law enforcement agencies to effectively deal with illegal mining and logging, and the protection of water bodies.

Additionally, the laws governing cattle ranching should be strictly enforced to protect the farms and livelihoods of farmers in the affected areas.

The government, the communique said, must promote national self-sufficiency in agricultural productivity and reduce the country’s dependence on imported products through import substitution industrialisation, and champion the consumption of locally manufactured products.

Accountable governance

To promote accountable governance for local economic development, the communique said the Special Prosecutor’s Office must be provided with adequate human and financial resources to enable it to become fully operational while the recommendations from the Auditor General’s Report were fully implemented for greater transparency and accountability.

After discussing the recent crises in the banking and financial sector, the New Year School asked the Bank of Ghana to strictly enforce and monitor the banking and financial industry to ensure strict adherence to banking regulations and good corporate governance practices.

New mindset

In his closing remarks, the acting Provost of the College of Education, University of Ghana, Professor Michael A. Tagoe, said the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda would be a mirage if Ghanaians did not embrace a new mindset.

"It cannot be business as usual. We must all begin to do things differently, our attitude towards work, corruption and environment, service and willingness to serve our nation," he stated.

He urged the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies to adopt the agenda and ensure that Ghanaians bought into the policy.

Concerns

Sharing their views at the end of the event, some participants said they had been educated on the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda better and were happy to play their individual and collective roles to ensure its realisation.

A cocoa farmer from the Asunafo North Municipality, Ms Deborah Osei Mensah, said: "Initially when I heard that this year's New Year School was about the Ghana Beyond Aid, I thought the politicians were only going to use the platform to defend their initiative and solicit our votes but now I understand we have to value what we have. Ghana beyond aid is achievable.”