Ministry of Education to improve supervision

Page 15, Feb 11, 2010
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah

THE Minister of Education, Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo, has said the ministry is taking steps to improve supervision in public basic schools in the country to ensure that teachers offer their best to enhance academic standards.
These steps, he said, included the review of head teachers’ handbook and School Management Committee (SMC) manual to reflect and strengthen the current monitoring and supervision practices, improving mobility of circuit supervisors with the supply of motorbikes and the collaboration with civil society organisations in carrying out research into school administration and management with the view to exposing the weakness in school supervision.
Answering questions in Parliament yesterday, Mr Tettey-Enyo, who is also the Member of Parliament for Ada, added that the ministry would also strengthen the capacity of district directorates by providing them with vehicles to carry out school monitoring and inspection and establish the National Inspectorate Board.
The Member of Parliament for Asunafo South, Mr George Yaw Boakye, who posed the question, wanted to know what pragmatic steps the ministry had put in place to improve supervision in public basic schools in the country.
He also wanted to know what measures had been put in place to ensure the early completion of the boy’s dormitory at the Kukuom Agricultural Senior High School funded by the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund).
The minister explained that currently interviews were being conducted for the recruitment of personnel for the establishment of the National Inspectorate Board.
On the dormitory project, Mr Tettey-Enyo said the two-storey building was awarded on contract in 2007 at a contract sum of GH¢295,891 to be completed within a period of 12 months and explained that towards the end of the contract period, it was observed that the contractor was not working according to schedule because of technical problems and delays in the payment of certificates on the project.
He gave assurance that the ministry, through the GETFund, would expedite action on the payment of outstanding certificates, adding that the project was now scheduled to be completed by the end of October, 2010.
When it was his turn, the MP for Ablekuma Central, Mr Theophilus Tetteh Chaie, asked the minister what the ministry was doing to ensure that facilitators of the Non-Formal Education literacy classes were motivated during and after their services to the various communities.
Replying, Mr Tettey-Enyo said to sustain the volunteer facilitator before, during and after the 21-month cycle of service, the ministry, through the Non-Formal Education Division (NFED), had put in place some measures including award of certificates to the facilitators, regular visits by the regional and district officers and monitoring from the headquarters.
He indicated that the challenge facing the NFED at the moment was inadequate incentives to cover the last batch of facilitators.
Mr Tettey-Enyo said, however, that GH¢30,000.00 had been allocated in the ministry’s 2010 budget under investment for the purchase of incentives for the facilitators.
Also in the House to answer questions was the Minister of Health, Dr Benjamin Kunbuor.
He told the House that the current policy of the ministry was that where there was a mission hospital in a district, the government would support the development of the hospital rather than build another one to compete with it.