An educationist has cautioned government against over reliance on the private sector to provide education in the country.
Mr. John Nyoagbe, Deputy General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), who gave the warning, said such situation could affect the deprived, who were unable to afford to pay for such services.
He was speaking at the end of a week's workshop for over 200 teachers and administrators of basic and senior high schools (SHS) in the Northern Region, in Tamale on Friday.
Mr. John Nyoagbe urged government to strengthen the decentralization of educational services and also make resource allocation to schools and educational establishments transparent to ensure education for all by the year 2015.
The workshop, which is a collaboration of the Canadian Teachers Federation (CTF) and GNAT, is designed to deepen participants' knowledge and understanding of content in the subject areas of their choice, sharpen their teaching strategies and administrative skills.
Mr. Nyoagbe expressed concern about the lack of teachers, poor infrastructure, inadequate equipped and financial problems lack of potable water, toilets and electricity as problems facing some schools.
He said: "We must hold on to our fundamental belief that education is a public good and governments must never abrogate their responsibility to provide public education of the highest quality for every child".
Mr. Stephen Sumani Nayina, Northern Regional Minister, said the history of education in the north had gone through rough times and this had affected the provision of infrastructure for schools.
He said this had been compounded by poverty which was also propelled by communal violence affecting the peace and provision of essential resources for improved education in the region.
Mr Nayina said the people appreciated interventions in the education sector to help raise the standards of education in the region.
He commended the CTF for supporting education in the region and gave the assurance that the Regional Coordinating Council would collaborate with all stakeholders in education to ensure the improvement of the human resource in the region.