On December 8, 2021 Africa education watch led by it Executive Director Mr kofi Asare, held a convening to review the back to school campaign and the re-entry policy for pre tertiary pregnant girls and young mothers.
The meeting was chaired by madam Josephine Nkrumah, Chair person for the National Commission for Civic Education. Other members of the panel were madam konadu, board for Eduwatch, madam Josephine country director for CSO and Dr madeez Adamu issah, education specialist unicef.
The main objective of the Programme was to bring together all stakeholders of the re-entry policy and indicate the barriers of the effectiveness of the policy and how to improve it.
During the meeting Mr kofi Asare on behalf of Edwatch presented some of the challenges of the policy and recommendations on how best things can be done to speed the effectiveness of the policy.
The following are 6challenges presented by Eduwatch.
◦ Unsustainable funding
◦ Inadequate staffing
◦ Lack of economic support / poverty
◦ Misconception about teenage pregnancy
◦ Infrastructure deficits
◦ Poor coherence and institute collaboration
After stating these challenges he went ahead to present recommendations for the policy
The following are some
recommendations presented by Eduwatch.
◦ Ministry of education should fund the re-entry policy
◦ GES must identify and engage all stakeholders at the national level
◦ Ministry of education must improve investment in early childhood care and education in the public sector by building more nurseries and JHS
◦ The GES must expand the scope of re-entry documentation and outreach to cover private schools
◦ The staffing gap at GEU should be filled with emphasis on Personnel with relevant backgrounds and experience.
◦ GES must institute a mentor ship program using successful re- entry beneficiaries
Dr madeez Adamu issah education specialist for UNICEF and member of the panel at the convening in an interview with Plan B FM
disclosed that the initiative is a very good one and one after his own heart ,and so far he thinks the Government has efficiently involved financially to speed the progress of the policy and finally he urged all parents and teachers to make sure they do their very best for the policy by playing their roles.
The host of the meeting Mr kofi Asare , Executive Director for Eduwatch, stated that the purpose of the convening was to bring together all stakeholders and see how best to resolve issues around the policy, he also said the policy is a very good one and he commends the government for that but he thinks the Government is not ready for it financially because they have followed it since 2018 and there are no sustainable funds allocated for the project by government and so he recommends that there should be budget allocation for the policy.
Discussion about this post