Teachers’ salaries, allowances swallow education budget

Between 70 and 90 per cent of the annual budgetary allocation to the educational sector goes into the payment of teachers' salaries, related allowances and study leave, the Minister of Education, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has stated.

"Unfortunately, these investments have not yielded the expected results in progressive improvement in learning outcomes," he added.

Addressing a three-day multi-partner forum on the development of a national teacher policy in Accra yesterday, the minister said it was in the wake of that situation that the government promised to improve issues of teachers for better results.

“In this regard, we commit ourselves to an effective partnership with religious bodies, civic organisations and the private sector in the delivery of quality education.

This partnership will also include areas of management, supervision and training of teachers in their units,” he added.

Forum

The three-day forum was organised by the National Teaching Council (NTC), in partnership with donor organisations such as the United

Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), and sponsored by the Norwegian Government under the Norwegian Teacher Initiative (NTI).

It brought together relevant stakeholders to dialogue on issues and policies that will inform the development of a national teacher policy.

Commitment

Dr Opoku Prempeh said the government was committed to ensuring that teachers were treated with respect and their salaries and allowances paid regularly and on time.

He said the government was also focused on the provision of incentives that would motivate teachers and reward their hard work in the classroom.

He explained that Ghana’s participation in the NTI had provided the opportunity “for us to take stock and reflect on the many things we are doing for teachers”.

“The expectation is that they will be motivated to stay and give of their best in shaping the future of our children,” the minister said.

He said the initiative, led by UNESCO and other international partners, had provided the country with the opportunity to reflect on the programmes and also evaluate the impact of the interventions for teachers.

“Taking lessons from the country analysis mapping, I encourage all partners over this three-day session to collectively frame the issues and strategies to inform the development of a comprehensive teacher policy,” Dr Opoku Prempeh said.

He further tasked the participants to pay particular attention to teacher recruitment and retention, teacher education, deployment, career structures and teacher employment and working conditions.

Others included teacher reward and remuneration, teacher standards and teacher accountability, he added.

Codification

The acting Executive Secretary of the NTC, Mr Christian Addai-Poku, said although Ghana had a number of policy documents on teachers, they were not codified into a comprehensive teacher policy.

He said the Ministry of Education had realised the need to codify all existing documents on teachers and factor in the nine dimensions of the UNESCO-recommended teacher policy guidelines.

He said the Ghana Teacher Task Force (GTTF) of the NTI was set up to, among other objectives, harmonise teacher data within broader stakeholder domains and the development of a comprehensive national teacher policy document for Ghana.

Right to education

The UNICEF Country Representative, Madam Anne Claire Dufey, said the right to education was important because it paved the way for the future progress of the child.

She commended the Ministry of Education for making efforts to improve overall educational outcomes, stating that all the educational interventions were critical to the development of the country.