Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Adutwum
Civil service organisation, Africa Education Watch and its partners have urged the Minister of Education to liaise with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to ensure that the political statement to be proposed at the upcoming Global Education Summit is endorsed by Ghana.
The Summit is scheduled to be held on Wednesday, July 28.
It will be co-hosted by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Kenyan leader Uhuru Kenyatta.
The Summit will consider modalities in financing education across the world.
A political statement is expected to be made for domestic financing of education.
It is in this light the CSOs are urging Dr Yaw Adutwum to “liaise with HE President Nana Akufo-Addo to ensure the endorsement of the political statement by the Government of Ghana as soon as possible to show Ghana’s commitment to addressing the issues outlined in the statement.”
This was contained in an open letter addressed to the Minister by Executive Director of Africa Education Watch Kofi Asare on behalf of the other partners.
The letter written on Thursday, July 22 also wants the sector minister to make an “ambitious” and “measurable” commitment to education financing at the Summit.
“These may include committing to safeguarding education expenditure to pre-Covid levels, increasing domestic financing of education towards the 20% global benchmark and beyond, establish and implement policies to ensure that no child is left behind and ensure the efficient and equitable use of resources.”
It said it is critical that education is prioritised in public expenditure with freed-up funds and new liquidity from debt relief initiatives.
It, therefore, rejected the advice by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for public sector expenditure to be cut.
“Teachers are often the largest single group on the wage bill so any cuts or freezes can disproportionately impact on education spending.”
The CSOs want Dr Adutwum to also engage the Minister of Finance, who gives the final sign-off in any commitments.
They said they will not mind meeting the Minister to discuss these issues.