The Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has called on Government to expedite action on the amended Education Act which has been neglected after the NDC government left office in 2017.
According to him, the act if passed into law will decentralize the educational sector.
The Former Deputy Education Minister also added that the amended education act will also make District Chief Executives more responsible for the improvement of education in their respective areas.
Speaking in an interview with Citi News, Mr. Ablakwa was of the view that prioritizing the passing of the amended education act will not only improve education in the country but also make DCEs more directly responsible for its improvement.
“We need to work towards full decentralization, and I want to appeal to Government that the amended education act which we left in draft state, they should expedite action. They should bring it to Parliament so we can pass it and attain full decentralization. So that as we are about electing DCEs, they can put out education on the agenda,” he said.
Mr. Ablakwa explained that his tenure as deputy education minister exposed him to certain challenges which can only be addressed through the amended education act.
He cited examples including the wasting away of learning materials in warehouses and teacher absenteeism as problems that have beleaguered education in some districts in the country.
“We need to have a full decentralization so at the local levels schools at the local level will be accountable to local authorities, so the local authorities will be empowered to deal with issues on absenteeism. There are times you send text books from Accra and they have been locked up in ware houses. The local authorities don’t know that text books and other teaching and learning materials have arrived. We were not arm chair ministers, we were out there, we were in the fields. District Education director says I don’t have a car and I don’t have the funds to pay for transporting these books” the MP said.
