THE Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) Ghana Chapter have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to address issues on girl child education.
The MOU was an outcome of a policy review meeting held between MOE, Ghana Education Service (GES) and the FAWE.
The Minister of Education, Mr Alex Tettey- Enyo, signed for his ministry, while Dr Esi Sutherland -Addy initialled for FAWE.
Dr Sutherland Addy said as part of FAWE’s current strategic plan, selected national chapters had conducted reviews of current policies governing the educational sector in the country.
She said the documents were studied based on the Education Strategic Plan for 2003-2005 and 2010-2020; the Draft Aide Memoire between the government of Ghana and the development partners and the 2009 national education sector annual review.
Some of the recommendations of the review, she said, were that subsidies should be provided for girls and boys from deprived communities and this must take into account the specific needs of children across geographical areas.
She said the review also indicated that public schools should ideally have free access to Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) but if not feasible, girls should be given priority and granted this essential facility.
Touching on quality and access, Dr Sutherland- Addy said according to the recommendation, policies that allowed unrestricted number of re-sits of BECE should be enacted.
She said another proposal was to ensure an improvement of the participation of girls in education and the elimination of discrimintion against female pupils and students, while scholarships should be offered to girls entering senior high school, as well as the establishment of all-girls senior high centres of excellence.
It must also include the upgrading of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) curriculum which involves innovations and new fields to meet current industrial demands with specific targets to cater for female candidates.
She also called for the review of the TVET curriculum at teacher training and university levels to ensure gender sensitivity in the design and delivering of TVET.
In the field of education management, Dr Sutherland-Addy proposed that civil education units must be strengthened and given governmental service funds to ensure gender mainstreaming, while a special programme of professional development and gender sensitive training be made a priority for women in managerial positions to be more effective and ensure gender quality.
The Ministry of Education assured FAWE of incorporating their proposals into the ESP because he saw their suggestions to be that which would enrich the policy of ESP.
He said his ministry was ready for suggestions which would be of benefit to its administration.
After the signing of the MOU the following activities needed to be implemented.
The MOE/GES will designate a focal point person based at the MOE who will serve as a liaison between FAWE and MOE on all issues related to the implementation of the Gender Responsive School ( GRS)- Centre of Excellence (COE) programme.
A technical committee comprising the following would be set up: A chairperson, an independent professional from the education sector outside the FAWE Ghana Chapter membership; a member of the FAWE Ghana Chapter Executive Committee; the focal point person from MOE; two members from the school community who is a teacher and a female student with the FAWE Ghana Co-ordinator as secretary to the committee.
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