2023 in Review: Highlights of issues in educational sector
The year 2023 started with the management of the University of Ghana announcing an increment of fees for the 2022/2023 academic year.
The University said the new fees were based on rates approved by Parliament and communicated through the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC).
Following public outcry over the increment, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, Minister of Education, directed the University of Ghana to comply with the Government’s proposed 15 per cent increase in public universities’ academic fees.
The Minister also directed other public universities, which initially charged above the 15 per cent fee increment threshold, to make refunds to affected students.
The Ghana Education Service (GES), later, released the 2023 academic calendar for all schools, Kindergarten, Primary, Junior High and Senior High and Senior Technical.
Dr Jaime Saavedra, World Bank Global Director for Education, on Thursday, February 09, 2023, called on Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum.
The visit was the first of the Director’s two-day visit to the country to gain firsthand information on Ghana’s educational sector as well as inspect the Bank’s funded initiatives in the sector.
In May, Caterers of the National School Feeding Programme commenced a nationwide strike to demand payment of their arrears.
Madam Juliana Cudjoe, President of the Greater Accra School Feeding Caterers Association, said they would only return when their arrears for the previous academic year were paid.
Later in the month, the Reverend Dr Sylvester Agalga, Headmaster of Bawku Senior High School, said some staff of the school were seeking transfers due to the conflict in the Bawku enclave.
He said teachers who were posted to the School were also declining the postings.
The second half of the year commenced with the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) together with the European Union Delegation to Ghana (EU Ghana) launching 16 million Euros support to Ghana’s Technical and Vocational Educational and Training (TVET) sector.
The programme, dubbed: ‘Support to the Transformation of the TVET System in Ghana (STTSG),’ was to expand structures and develop skills to improve TVET education rollout in the country.
After the strike of Caterers in May, Madam Lariba Zuweira Abudu, Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, said the Caterers would receive payments of their arrears for the third term of the 2022 academic year by June 12.
She said her Ministry and the Ministry of Finance as of April 2023 had paid all areas for the first and second terms for the 2022 academic year.
In July, members of the National Food Suppliers Association commenced a weeklong picketing of the National Food Buffer Stock Company to demand debts owed to them by the government.
The Group said it would not end the picketing until the government paid the GHS270 million owed to members.
Later in the month, an Adisadel College student who was captured in a viral video choking his colleague was arrested by the Police in Cape Coast.
The Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana began a nationwide strike on Tuesday, August 1, 2023, over the government’s refusal to implement negotiated allowances and payment of basic salary based on their salary grade.
The Association, however, called off the strike on Tuesday, September 05, 2023, following a directive from the National Labour Commission.
The 2023 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) was held from Monday, August 07, 2023 to Friday, August 11, 2023.
A total of 600,714 candidates, comprising 300,323 males and 300,391 females, from 18,993 participating schools registered for the examination.
The West African Examinations Council on Thursday, November 09, 2023, released provisional results for both school and private candidates who sat for the 2023 BECE.
The GES in the last quarter of the year released the 2023 Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) into Senior High Schools and Technical and Vocational Education and Training Schools (TVET).
Out of the total number of 598,839 results received from the West African Examination Council, 585,797 candidates qualified to be placed.
In December, the Ministry of Education announced that First-Year Senior High School students were to report to school on Monday, December 4, 2023.
The schedule affected both students on single and double-track systems as stated in the 2023/2024 academic calendar.
Source: Ghana News Agency