According to the Coalition, there were still more than 400,000 children out of school, high attrition rate for girls, lack of accessibility for learners with special needs, inadequate textbooks, and lack of teaching and learning materials, which were among the numerous educational problems that needed urgent attention from government.

Speaking at a news conference in Accra, Mr Bright Appiah, Chairman  of the GNECC, noted that in the budget statement kindergartens (KGs) would be provided in 1,171 primary schools without KGs nationwide, hence, 200 KGs would be constructed in 2017.

He said the measures outlined showed that primary and junior education would continue to receive considerable attention from government; “notable were the improvement and expansion of school buildings and increase of capitation grant from GHC 4.50 to GHC 9.00 per annum per child.”

Mr Appiah said these initiatives were commendable, particularly the increase of the capitation grant and base grant for schools, however, GHC 9.00 per annum per child was not enough to cover the full cost of educating a child.

He said the introduction of the base grant to shore up resources for effective administration was commendable; however, the coalition’s research in 2015 indicated that the capitation grant was often in arrears.

He said these arrears in some cases were as much as one year, whereas, the amount that got to the schools was reduced as a result of bank charges and deductions done at the district level, which could erode any gains expected by the increase.

Mr Appiah said GNECC recommended the release of the capitation grant on timely basis, which should be key, and also provision must be made for bank charges and other deductions made at the district level so that the amount allocated to the schools would not reduce.

“We also welcome the restructuring of the Ghana School Feeding Programme and scholarship schemes to increase access for children from deprived backgrounds,” he said. Mr Appiah explained that with regard to the curriculum, GNECC believes that the basic level curriculum should not be loaded as it overburdened the children, and made it difficult for teachers to cover the full content, encouraging rote learning in order to pass exams.

He said the introduction of new subjects should therefore, take into consideration the existing load on pupils; adding that the GNECC would propose that content of the existing curriculum be reduced and graduated. The GNECC Chair noted that the importance of developing literacy and numeracy skills in the early years cannot be overemphasized; with these skills the child could explore and easily acquire knowledge with just a little guidance.

He explained that due to this, the coalition supported the use of the mother tongue as a medium of instruction for children especially those who lived in areas where they were not exposed to the English language, to help them get a strong foundation for learning.

Mr Appiah was therefore, hopeful that government would give full support to the policy, for the use of the mother tongue  for instruction at the early grade. As part of its education governance and accountability thematic strategy, GNECC had been involved in reviewing the implementation of education plans and policies in Ghana over the years.

One of such exercises was the review of political party manifestoes in 2016 to ascertain the extent to which the promises made by the parties met the current educational needs of the country and how they responded to Ghana’s current challenges with the development frameworks.

As a follow-up GNECC monitoring the policies of the elected government to ensure that it does what it promised the citizens.