THE PRESIDENT OF GHANA HAS FINALLY MET THE LEADERSHIP OF PRIVATE SCHOOLS COUNCIL (GNACOPS)

The President of republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo- Addo has finally met the leadership of over 22,000 private Schools in Ghana ,on Wednesday, 28th November,2018 at the office of the President,for a thorough discussion on issues facing the private schools in Ghana.
A statement signed by  the National Executive Director, Mr. Enoch Kwasi Gyetuah,for the private schools Council indicates that government of Ghana now have  agreed with the Private Schools Council  on common grounds to engage in PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP (PPP) to end major plights facing the operations of private schools in Ghana.

Below is the full statement from GNACOPS TO THE PRESIDENCY.


COMMUNIQUE TO THE PRESIDENCY.

On behalf of the entire fraternity of private schools in Ghana, as well as the Executive Council of the Ghana National Council of Private schools, particularly the 6-member team that paid a courtesy call on the president, I will like to show our unalloyed appreciation about the warm reception we were accorded by the president and his team. I must say that by our visit and its associated discussions, an unprecedented history needed to be celebrated was made because over the years this is the first time that a sitting government has engaged private schools body in a factual and fruitful discussion. This truly shows that our president is a man of his words and that the educational development of every Ghanaian child at heart.
The demeanor of the president and his team also gives a strong proof that the government recognizes the role played by the private schools in educating a very good percentage of the Ghanaian children. Also the government identifies the private schools as a major stake holder in the achievements of the educational goals of Ghana. We are very much enthused that the president sees the way forward and likewise, GNACOPS sees a fertile grounds for collaborative by both the government and the private schools. We believe this will further push the idea of the private-public partnership forward in the areas of quality education delivery. In furtherance to the meeting with the president, we will be very pleased to further engage in dialogues with the appropriate agencies on the collaborative way in which our association was engaged. GNACOPS will within the very few days present a proposal  to the president on how when given some stay of influence, back by law, could be an internal regulating body for private schools in Ghana to ensure that quality is not compromised in terms of education delivery in Ghana.
Finally I must say that yesterday’s meeting actually buried deep the misconceptions by a section of the populace that the government is insensitive to the plight of the private school and that it has over the times sidelined them when major decisions concerning educational delivery is been taken and implemented. Honestly, I must say the Presidents quick reactions to some of the issues raised and the instant tasks given to the deputy minister to ensure that certain perceived anomalies were immediately corrected, is a clear indication that the government is truly concerned about the education of every Ghanaian child.
I must once again on behalf of the Council, thank the government, particularly the president for the warm reception, recognition and assurance to work with us as a major partner in achieving our ultimate goal of giving every Ghanaian child a quality life-skill based education.
Thank You   
Yours faithfully, 
                                           
ENOCH KWASI GYETUAH
Signed         29/11/18                                               
0207823726,0249641349                                 
(National Executive Director)   
Cc:     
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF EDUCATION
 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION- GHANA

INTRODUCTION OF PRIVATE EDUCATION AS A COURSE FOR SCHOOL OWNERS A CRITICAL INTERVENTION TO END MENACE IN PRIVATE EDUCATION IN GHANA

The private sector education needs serious house cleaning and total redefining interventions to curtail the growing challenges facing the sector.
Many people have set up Schools in the country without operational measurements, because the system is very corrupt and every one can have his or her way through. I have come into  contact with some genuine owners of schools who are into private education operations with intentions of helping the community to have access to quality education but have been intimidated, extortionated and misinformed  on operations of  the private  sector education.

Most institutions responsible to educate  these owners have rather dwelled on their ignorance to extort huge sum of money from them in view of helping them to register or meet some standards, they sometimes put them through some oblique way so that these innocent School owners would not find their way out.

Some  institutions in the country are cheating the private schools owners especially those  having  little knowledge about their operations.
The Education Acts  that stipulates and directs the establishment of private education has been kept under the carpet for long period of time.
So that people who are genuinely helping the country's education delivery would continue pay money to some officials to enrich their rotten pockets.

Some also don't even Know how to fight for their rights when infringed upon all because there is no proper education for the owners.

However, there are other section of some businessmen  who are  in the system with the intention of creating worth for themselves without considering the core values  of the private sector education.

These Schools are in the system causing  serious bullying and polluting the reliable legacy of private education.

As we fight to restore and bring the private sector education to the light  for public recognition,free from intimidations and seek support for quality assured education delivery. We also have equal self responsibility to crack the whip on those who have failled to operate under circumference of the private sector educational reforms.

People who desire to own School should be allowed to study  private education as a course for the betterment of establishing a well defined private schools that focus on child development, holistic education promotion and  meaningful understanding of private education operations .

Our future generation's livehood cannot be used as preparatory grounds for some schools ,We are at the stage of implementing  well defined private educational framework to project and achieve private education outcome in Ghana for national education development goal.

 Let us  master every bit of private education operations so we could gallantly train and develop these generation under our care  to fit into  the global  contests for job security and idea creation through innovative and critical thinking abilities.
Let us team up to redefine the phase of private schools in Ghana.
BY:
 *OBENFO GYETUAH KWASI ENOCH*

FIXING THE PROBLEM OF UNTRAINED TEACHERS IN PRIVATE EDUCATION IN GHANA, UNDER A FLASHIP PROGRAM CALLED GNACOPS VOLUNTEERS SERVICE SCHEME (GVSS)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ALL MEDIA HOUSES

The private sector education in Ghana is the most robust and reliable machinery for effective education delivery for all ages. Private schools have been in the educational system for a very long time and have contributed to the progress of Ghana's education delivey with much emphasis on academic excellence, creative exposures, sporting disciplines and religious and moral upbringing of students.
The mastering of the National curriculum and representing the quality-based education community in Ghana is one of the things easily found in private schools in Ghana.
Parents' commitment towards their wards schooling opportunities is exeptional and needs commendation.
As we speak, current statistics available to the GHANA NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PRIVATE SCHOOLS -GNACOPS indicates that there are over 22,000 basic  private schools across the length and breath of the country.
Every Admission year , 90% of new students who are directly admitted into various Universities in this country had their basic education in private schools. There are  over 600,000 teachers that have been also employed by this sector and 80% of the total work force are 'UNTRAINED' TEACHERS. These people are mostly the  graduates from Senior High Schools with WASSCE CERTIFICATES who have been employed so they'll be able to earn and save some money between six months to nine months in order to  continue their education. Others also stay for 3 academic years as they enroll themselves in various distance courses  to upgrade themselves.
Records available to the council indicate that over 90% of distance education students who are pursuing diploma courses in education are teachers from private schools who work and use their weekly  and monthly stipends to cater for their course fees.
The current education reforms in Ghana demands that these people be LAID OFF by private schools as they don't qualify to be  employed and that employing them poses a legal challenge to anyone who employs them. Instead, it's been made clear that only
professional and licenced teachers who have done their NATIONAL SERVICE AND HAVE BEEN ISSUED WITH CERTIFICATES, SAT FOR AND PASSED LICENSURE EXAMS ORGANIZED BY NATIONAL TEACHING COUNCIL (NTC) qualify.
As part of the COUNCIL'S  burden to upgrade the operations of private schools in the country and help the private education sector meet the requisite demands of national education reforms, so that the currently untrained teaching staff would be able to teach and upgrade themselves in the short-term and avoid being part of about  400,000 UNTRAINED TEACHERS TO BE LAID OFF,  CREATING A HUGE UNEMPLOYMENT SITUATION FOR THE COUNTRY,
THE GHANA NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PRIVATE SCHOOLS -GNACOPS HAS COME OUT WITH A PROGRAM CALLED
GNACOPS' VOLUNTEERS SERVICE SCHEME (GVSS)  TO REGISTER ALL PRIVATE SCHOOLS TEACHERS WHO ARE NOT TRAINED, AS VOLUNTEERS  to render voluntary service to the private education sector for 4 years and in the process, receive structured  allowance from the Council through GNACOPS' DONORS FUND (GDF).

The program seeks to solve the following

1.To avoid the mass unemployment situation the educational reform would create for Ghana economy.

2. To help young Ghanaian enroll and
upgrade their education.

3.To solve the long lasting problem of untrained teachers in the private sector education delivey.

4. To have a reliable and accurate database for workers in private schools for future planning in the country.

5. To increase capacity building for  professionalism, standardization, monitoring and boost quality education delivery in private schools in Ghana.

The Council is calling upon all stakeholders in education delivery for  assistance in creating public awareness for this flaship program.

Thank you
Enoch kwasi Gyetuah
National Executive Director
0249641349

INCLUDE PRIVATE SCHOOLS IN THE FREE SHS POLICY- GNACOPS TELLS GOVERNMENT

In the recent release about the decision of the minister of education to be hard and resolute on the efficiency and effectiveness of headteachers, circuit supervisors and teachers in the public sector of education   clearly demonstrates that the private sector of education is really doing better in terms of effective education delivery in Ghana.

This had been emphatically accepted and expoused by the minister in accordance to what he  said -  "The worst thing is that in the public school system, the teachers are better trained and well  paid than those in the private sector, but their results are too bad. They even prefer to send their children to private schools. I have sleepless nights over this as a minister" For this reason,

The GHANA NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PRIVATE SCHOOLS ( GNACOPS)has called on the ministry of education who has been heart hardened  to listen to  private schools in it's educational policy implementation that, if the ministry is desirous to achieve policy results in the face of FREE SHS POLICY.
According to the Nationals Director of the Council, Mr. Enoch Kwasi Gyetuah, " he is  asking why private schools have been  neglected and consigned to the oblivion   by the ruling government? "

He further fumed that now the minister has seen the academic potency of products of private schools in Ghana, it is high time the ministry of education reconsider it's previous stance on operations of  private education and make them feel the essence of public private partnership in education delivery in Ghana.
Private schools have over the years been battling with a lot of challenges and there's the need for the government to intervene.

He is  calling on the minister to include private schools in the policies of Ghana's education.
The executive director hinted the press about new flaship program " GNACOPS' VOLUNTEERS SERVICE SCHEME" GVSS  introduced by the council  to   sustain and beef up the capacity building of the private schools workers to meet global educational framework, where over 200,000 untrained staff would be put into this scheme for regular and extensive training program to ripe  their professionalism in effective education delivery in private sector.

 For better explanation contact Mr. Gyetuah Enoch the national executive director on 0249641349 or
 Mr. Samuel Nyamekye
Ashanti regional PRO
(0548470808)

GNACOPS NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S SPEECH AT 2018 ANNUAL STAKEHOLDERS CONFERENCE HELD ON 31ST OCTOBER, IN KUMASI GOLDEN TULIP.

Your Excellency, President of the Republic, Honourable members of Parliament, Nananom, Directors and members of GNACOPS, Educational Stakeholders, members of the Press, Ladies and Gentlemen

I am highly elated to be part of this day which marks the first ever national conference of the Ghana National Council of Private Schools, (GNACOPS).

Today, we have met here from far and near to take stock as to how far we as a council have gone in our almost one year journey in the quest for quality education delivery. This Conference, under the theme “Redefining the Phase of Private School Education in Ghana”, will also be a forum for stakeholders in education delivery in Ghana to further deliberate effective ways by which GNACOPS, representing the private school sector, can augment the public-private partnership policy of the government in educational delivery in Ghana. To this end, a proposed national private school policy, will be discussed and presented to government for further action. This is because, contrary to popular belief that government has left private schools to their fate, the fact is that talks behind the scenes with government and affiliated agencies are far advanced and it is our hope that this conference will further cement this good relationship and open a new chapter for the growth of private schools.

Your Excellency, Nananom, ladies and gentlemen, John Dewey, sees education as “not a preparation for life but as life itself”. In recent times, the occupational demands of our society and the entire world are rapidly changing. Richard Riley, is of the view that Today’s Teachers, and for that matter educational systems, should be positioned to prepare learners for jobs and technologies that don’t yet exist … in order to solve problems that we don’t even know are problems yet. In this light, GNACOPS has started a series of programs aimed at incorporating reskilling in both the teachers and administrators of private schools in accordance with the World Economic Forum’s conventions on the future of jobs and learning.  

Mr Chairman, ladies and Gentlemen, in the year under review, Gnacops partnered a number of both local and foreign organisations to ensure that private schools in Ghana acquire the necessary logistics and inputs to facilitate effective educational delivery. Already, in partnership with the CECIYAA foundation of Ghana and the USA, Gnacops have established 120  library and reading centres across six regions in Ghana,to  various private schools in Ghana  with  pragmatic  measures to ensure effective usageof the books  for its intended users

  .

In May this year, GNACOPS, in partnership with Zepto, organised a one-day intensive workshop on ICT and the use of new technologies in teaching and learning for a cross-section of private school teachers in Ghana.

For close to about 5months now, the GNACOPS TV talk show dubbed “Nimde3 Kwankyer3”, which showcase both academic and co-curricular activities of various private schools has been rolling on Royal TV every Saturday afternoon. I will like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to our various sponsors. Currently, talks and consultations are underway with two funding institutions, namely the Educational Outcome Foundation and SGL Royal Capital, to help make funding accessible to private schools.

Today, together with the CECIYAA foundation, GNACOPS will launch the GNACOPSFEED and the GNACOPS-WEAR projects.

Mr Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, good nutrition is very important in the growth of every child. GNACOP-FEED is therefore a project to ensure that various private schools in Ghana gets access to as much as possible to quality organic food at a comparatively lower price. GNACOPS-WEAR, on the other hand, is aimed at helping schools in the provision of expertly tailored school uniforms for the children.

Another project to be launched today is the GNACOPS Volunteer Service Department. This project is aimed at ensuring not just the quality of teachers in private schools but also, the periodic and systematic upgrading of such teachers.

Mr Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, Abraham Lincoln once said that “a nation that does not honour its heroes will not long endure”. In this light, GNACOPS will today present awards to a number of institutions, administrators and teachers whose selflessness in the rendering of  their activities has brought us this far.

Finally, there will be the presentation of GNACOPS draft policy on Private School Education in Ghana, to be presented to government got consideration and further discussions  

In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, the task ahead in ensuring a sound and holistic human development through private school education is a big one. In spite of the numerous challenges and inadequate available resources, coupled with unfavourable national policies on education, let us re-echo the Chinese proverb that “it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness”. Our collective individual strength will garner enough force to help us surmount every obstacle in our quest for an innovative, values-driven, excellent quality and internationally acceptable education delivery for the future generation.

Thank you.