Teachers have lashed out at governments for continually deceiving Ghanaians that it is investing heavily in the education sector when in practice nothing is being done.
At a day Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG), round table discussion on inequality in education, health and social protection sectors, calls were made for serious commitment rather than what is being made known to the Ghanaian public.
The participants comprising teachers, officers of education services, civil society organizations, health workers and some heads of decentralized departments lashed out at governments for talking but not walking the talk.
Government claims that it has allocated 3,000 Ghana cedis to education officers meanwhile since 2013 no penny has been sent to the districts. Again, government claims that it released 1,500 cedis to circuit supervisors was not true because even the head of supervision at GES has no vehicle to go on supervisory tours.
“How can the inequality gap be bridged in educational sector when the very people who are on the ground to make it happen are not adequately resourced,” the teachers asked.
The visible angry education sector workers were not also happy about the hassles and the treatment they get at the NHIS offices during renewal of their cards.
“We are contributors of SSNIT but when you go too renew your membership you have to spend the whole day out of the classroom.”
The vehicles are not there for administrative work and even with the old vehicles some education directorates are using, fueling them was a problem,” they said.
The Tamale Metropolitan Girl Child Officer, Mrs. Muniraatu Amadu, who corroborated with participants says funding remains the major challenge in the sector.
“I can’t use my meager salary to go round and educate the girl child on the need for their education. Parents need to be educated on the importance of their girl child education,” she said.
She therefore appealed to the government make adequate resources available to officers at the district level to enable them carry out their duty diligently.
Explaining the rational behind the sensitization, the Director of Operations at IDEG, Mr. Kofi Awity, said the program forms part of the Democratic Governance in West Africa projects aimed at supporting advocacy activities by partnering with civil society organizations and government to sustainably tackle inequality and contribute to a fair and equitable redistribution of available public resources.
The objectives he said was to discuss budgets allocated to the sectors of education, health and social protection. It is also to identify and mobilize allies to campaign on increased spending on the three sectors in ways that reduce inequality and agree on ways to influence increases in the selected sectors in reducing ine
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