GNACOPS NEW YEAR (2019) MESSAGE TO ALL PRIVATE EDUCATIONAL STAKEHOLDERS .

THANK YOU, GNACOPS IS GRATEFUL

All too soon, the year has come it's logical end. If we are alive today and reading this message, it's all thanks to our Father in heaven who's overshadowing grace has eclipsed all our lives and brought us this far.
GNACOPS's official formation began a little over a year ago but we received official & legal  recognition by the Government of the Republic and all other related agencies one year ago, this month.
The journey has been very difficult because right on her birthbed, GNACOPS had a knife to her throat but this baby was too tough and very ready to fight.

One year on, GNACOPS has done what no other Private Educational Group has been able to accomplish throughout the years.
We have put together, the first ever group of Proprietors,Managers, Educationists, Headteachers, Educational Workers, Consultants and Parents in the private sector.
 Over one year, we have gained Parliamentary Recognition, we've had the Approval, with highest ratings from all Public Educational Agencies, Several Ministries and Ministerial   select committees. Agencies from the United States, Europe and the Far East. The list is endless.....but this is just the beginning.
On the ground, we have combed the entire country to lay a solid foundation. We have distributed hundreds of thousands of books to schools across the country free of charge. We've held Two Successful Conferences and the First Ever National Private Schools Awards.
The year's crowning glory and moment was our visit to the President of the Republic, H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo,with whom we had several discussions and deliberations bordering on Private Education. Several followup meetings, still ongoing has huge prospects for the future.
What more can we say than thank you to you all of you out there : Members who have stood solidly with us the Directors through thick and thin.
From all of us, the GNACOPS TEAM, we wish you a HAPPY NEW YEAR ahead of time and promise you a hectic hardworking 2019.
May all of our hardwork pay off for generations yet unborn.

From STEVE REVSS, DIRECTOR, GNACOPS.

For and on behalf of all GNACOPS DIRECTORS,  COORDINATORS, REPRESENTATIVES & ACTIVISTS.

Private schools are still hungry for a change ; GNACOPS TELLS GOVERNMENT

A selfless leader's desire is for his follower's life and advantages to improve.
For this reason, National Directors of the Ghana National Council of Private schools ( Gnacops ) have always  interacted with the education ministry, requesting for a change for the better, in the private sector of education.
Series of meetings have been held to formulate the best private  educational framework that would  emphasize on standards,  equity and promote educational development in private schools .
In line with this, the directorate of pre-tertiary education in Ghana has been very instrumental in preparing a level ground for achieving the everlasting desire of private schools' demands.

GNACOPS DIRECTORS WITH DEPUTY MINISTER OF EDUCATION.

For this reason, the national directors of GNACOPS and the education ministry agreed on a follow-up meeting after the historical meeting with  the president of the republic a few weeks ago at the Jubilee House.

At the followup meeting,the minister of education , Hon. Matthew Opoku Prempeh
expressed his views to the council about issues affecting private schools education and called for effective collaboration between the ministry and private schools.
He further mentioned to the leadership of the council some educational packages and strategies that would help beef up enrolment  in private schools especially at the senior high level.

The deputy  minister, Hon. Yaw Adutwum,  who co-chaired the meeting,  elaborated on intended private-public partnership  to steer the affairs of education in Ghana.
He further  mentioned other reforms that are about to be introduced into the  education system.
These include national assessment of basic education for the classes BS2, BS4 and BS6 . This he strongly believes would enhance effective teaching and learning and would also give early performance indications for quick and apt measures to be taken  before the child would be assessed finally for certification and merit.
In addition, the director for PRE-TERTIARY Madam Catherine Agyepomaa Appiah-Pinkrah called for the need to set up a regulatory body to supervise and  implement private education policy that would  be used to determine the operations of private schools and urged the council to put in maximum contribution to make her vision a reality in order to eradicate any unapproved educational delivery into the education system in Ghana.

In response to these,
National Executives of GNACOPS,led by the national executive director, Mr. Enoch Kwesi Gyetuah thanked the leadership of the ministry of education and assured them of the council's readiness to cooperate and contribute to build up a strong collaboration front for the sector's betterment and progress.
He therefore asked the sector ministry to rope in private schools into most of the international and local capacity- building programs that is mostly enjoyed by the public schools to help acquiant the private sector with modern trends in education.
In line with this, he requested training support from the NATIONAL TEACHING COUNCIL (NTC) to partner with the council to help train over 400,000 untrained private school  teachers which the Council, as a private sector initiative has formed into "GNACOPS VOLUNTEERS SERVICE SCHEME (GVSS)"
to   upgrade these untrained teachers to become professionally trained within  four years while they perform their  voluntary  service in various private schools.

  Other matters pertaining to BECE registration were also looked at.
Here, a suggestion was made to the government to pay 50% for private schools in the next academic calendar and this was warmly welcomed.
The meeting ended with a lot of goodwill from both sides for the coming year and the expectation of more collaboration for   progress in the sector.

For further detailed information,
on 0548470808
Signed...
Samuel Nyamekye
National PRO

PRIVATE SCHOOLS ARE NOT IN COMPETITION WITH THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS- PRE-TERTIARY DIRECTOR ADMITS

PRIVATE SCHOOLS ARE NOT IN COMPETITION WITH THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS- 
PRE-TERTIARY DIRECTOR ADMITS

PRIVATE SCHOOLS ARE NOT IN COMPETITION WITH THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS -
PRE-TERTIARY DIRECTOR ADMITS.
The relationship that exists between the two-edge of Education delivery in Ghana has been recently misconstrued by many Ghanaians, as most people percieve there is serious competition that exist between the two educators. 

In a meeting with the Ghana National Council of Private school and the Director of Pre-tertiary education -  Madam Catherine Agyapomaa Appiah-Pinkrah; it was revealed that there is a strong coordination devoid  of perceived misconception regarding competition that exists between the two sectors in Education delivery.

According to her, there is no dichotomy between private schools and public schools when it comes to rendering educational services to the country.

She accoladed the good work each sector is doing for the development of Ghana's education and called on private schools to partner with public schools for better education delivery.

For this reason, a program is in the pipeline to be implemented where private schools in partnership with public schools would have regular meetings and interactions every quarter with the sole aim of making progress in the betterment and improvement of the quality of education in Ghana.

The executive director of the Council, Mr Gyetuah Enoch on his part thanked the Pre-tertiary director for the good intentions and plans she has for private schools and called for a stronger relationship that would bridge the gap between private schools and public schools.

Matters concerning the free senior high school policy and free BECE registration were also  discussed.

You can call  the Executive director of the Council; Mr Gyetuah Enoch on 0249641349 or the Ashanti regional PRO Mr Samuel Nyamekye for further information.
Samuel Nyamekye
Ashanti regional PRO
( Gnacops )
0548470808.

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.

WHY IS IT THAT GOVERNMENT IS NOT PAYING SSNIT TO IT OWN CASUAL WORKERS? SSNIT FAILED TO ANSWER GNACOPS............

SSNIT FAILED TO ANSWER GNACOPS

Some members of the Ghana National Council of Private Schools (GNACOPS) have revealed that the court threats and sabotage-nature of SSNIT officials is leading  to the fold-up of many private schools who offer affordable and quality education to the Nation. The Council can confirm that this unfriendly attitude of some SSNIT staff have made most private schools  unable to employ the required number of staff to teach the students in their schools.

This revelation was made during a stakeholders' forum with private school owners and SSNIT Officials in Atebubu in the Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana.
Until this revelation, many proprietors and proprietresses have for a long time been hauled to court with SSNIT officials and made to pay huge court fines just for delaying payments and penalties.

In a country where Government announces that the private sector is the engine of every economy's growth, the question of GNACOPS to the government is WHICH POLICY OF  GOVERNMENT in this country has ever put in place any measure to protect private sector operators?
The writer of this piece has been battling with SSNIT court fines and penalties since 2013 during which  SSNIT, inhumanely remanded him in a Sunyani police cell.

Concerns of GNACOPS is quite simple.
Much as the constitution does not make room for excuses,  it makes room for negotiations in certain cases like the cases of private schools. Proprietors employ casual teachers who work for just a quarter of the year or sometimes, just a few months and leave without any notice.

Sometimes these workers go on holidays and don't return to post.
 When all these happen, the mere fact that the proprietor is not able to give notice to SSNIT automatically means the proprietors must pay to SSNIT all the months that the person was not even at post.

The question of GNACOPS is ''Who regulates the regulator?'

Various governments have engaged in  propaganda related to which government employed many of our unemployed youth, citing
groups like GYEEDA, NABCO,  NYE etc...

The question by a frustrated member of GNACOPS at a forum which shocked SSNIT officials who had no clue when it came to answering his question was
WHY IS IT THAT GOVERNMENT IS NOT PAYING SSNIT CONTRIBUTIONS TO ITS OWN CASUAL WORKERS?

SSNIT Officials' lame answer to this harmless question is that they  are still talking to the government about it?

Our other question is, since when SSNIT has been talking to government about this issue that they  cannot come to a conclusion.

Is the solution to jump on private operators who have helped in reducing massive unemployment, a move out of frustration? GNACOPS needs answers to these basic questions.

The private schools have  permanent staff and we pay their SSNIT contributions,  pay their children's fees, renew their health insurance cards and feed the entire staff in addition to other benefits and their monthly salaries.

 The least staff a basic private school employs is about 15 and if the same school has buses you can just imagine.
There are over 22,000 private schools in this country. Imagine, if each of them employs about 15 staff?

In conclusion, I urge  government and SSNIT to allow private school owners to pay SSNIT contribution for  permanent staff while casual staff,who will eventually  graduate to permanent status are exempted from  SSNIT contributions.

Government must stop collapsing private schools. They must stop the threats. They must stop prosecuting our members. They must stop the witch-hunting.

STORY BY
DESMOND Suaka (0542503526)
Pastor NELSON Aho (0247795261)

Breaking News - Private schools to compulsorily employ licensed teachers - GES*

The office of the National Executive Director  Of Ghana National Council of Private Schools -GNACOPS, has just  been prompted that, PRIVATE SCHOOLS IN GHANA WOULD SOON COMPULSORILY EMPLOY LICENSED TEACHERS AS A BASIC REQUIREMENT TO OBTAIN ACCREDITATION  FROM GES.

Below is the detail of the statement sent to GNACOPS.
Private schools in the country will be required to employ the services of licensed teachers like the public schools, the Ghana Education Service (GES) has said.

That is to ensure a uniformed standard in both public and private schools.

“Private schools are set up based on the rules and regulations of the Ministry of Education. Now it is part of the ministry’s regulations that to teach in Ghana, you must have a license and they [private schools] cannot be left out once they are providing education to Ghanaian children,” the Chairman of the GES Council, Mr Michael Nsowah, said in an interview with Graphic Online.

Accreditation

He warned that the GES would not grant accreditation to any proprietor who did not employ teachers that are licensed.

“Before approval is given for your operation, you need to give us a list of the teachers you are going to employ to see whether they are licensed,” he said.


Mr Michael Nsowah pointed out that licensing of teachers was backed by law, and that anyone who wanted to teach was required to have a license.

He expressed the hope that once teachers were licensed, it would impact positively on the education right from the basic educational level.

“Any foreigner coming to teach in the country is bound by the law to have a license,” he said, adding that the Private Schools Unit at the GES would be in charge of monitoring the operations of private schools to ensure that they were doing the right thing.

Licensure examination

A total of 28,576 newly trained teachers across the country wrote the first licensure examination which took place between September 10 and 12, 2018.

The examination, among other things, focused on essential skills for teaching, numeracy (basic computation) and literacy (verbal aptitude and essay).

It was held in all the colleges of education in the country except the Christ the Teacher, Akyem Oda Methodist, St Ambrose, McCoy, Cambridge, Jackson and Holy Spirit colleges of education.

The examination aimed to ensure that there are quality teachers to teach children and raise the standard of teaching in country.

It is also to prepare Ghanaian teachers to be accepted globally.

The Education Act of 2008, Act 778, empowers the National Teaching Council to conduct the professional examination for individuals who wanted to take teaching as a profession.

“STOP THE DISSIMULATION, FOCUS AND PRODUCE GOOD RESULT” GNACOPS MESSAGE TO GROUPS

We the members of the Ghana National council of private schools (GNACOPS) will continue to concentrate on producing the much needed results for the much focused parents and guardians who are bent in seeing the smooth growth of their wards with the much needed and organized curriculum that will suit the current trends of education and the demands of the job market. GNACOPS, right from the national, regional, district and circuit executives have keenly stalked the sabotage nature of coalition against privatization and commercialization of education (CAPCOE) and the failed acclaimed teacher unions like GNAT, NAGRAT and TEWU.
They have failed in all the background activities to run down the private schools in our country and has now come out in broad daylight calling on the government and even international bodies to help them relegate the activities of private education on Ghana.
I will plead with my fellow Ghanaians join me in objectively analysing these few issues:

Output of Work:
It is very shameful for a group like GNAT to involve itself in this type of “dead on arrival” hypocritic and unrealistic exercise of NAGRAT, TEWU and the so called Ghana National Education campaign coalition (GNECC), a group that is supposed to have been on the neck of GNAT, NAGRAT and TEWU to perform their basic role of educating our future leaders to come around and joined these failed groups to fight private Education. This is a misplaced priority by GNECC.

Let's come back to the basic issue of output of work, why are we having many private schools in the country? The basic and simple response is that the GNAT, NAGRAT, TEWU and perhaps their newly found love, the GNECC have all failed Ghanaians totally. A critical study of the educational terrain, especially at the basic level, will reveal how these groups have failed to perform their basic role as teachers and education workers. Parents, who are looking for their monies worth and are concerned with the future of their wards are yearning for are opting for the multipurpose type of education provided by the private schools. Unfortunately most of the public schools see this as a mirage. Can the government boast of having full grips of education in this country should the mission schools collapse?

I am humbly challenging GNECC to urge GES to publish BECE and WAECE results each year and we see the rankings. GNECC should ask the members of the various teacher unions to tell it where the wards of its members attend school. The answer will be stunning. Ghanaians deserve the best child centred education and that is what private schools offer.

WHY MANY COALITIONS?
Leadership is very important in every part of the world and Ghana is not an exception. However in instances where a number of groups spring up to play the same role, it is an indication that the earlier group(s) has failed. GNAT should ask itself why NAGRAT was formed, GNAT should ask itself why CONCERNED GROUP was formed. All these groups are there because the so called mother group has failed them. The Ghanaian parents are much aware of all these failed groups and their activities which will eventually affect the final consumer which is the poor Ghanaian child who go to school to spend about seven to eight hours and receive less than three lessons.

There is too much indiscipline at our public schools and these leads to poor performance. I don't think any critical parent will sit unconcern to the detriment of my ward's future. Majority of the public school teachers mistakenly think that it since their salaries does not come directly from the parents, there is no need to not put in the much needed efforts in bringing up that child.

Inaccurate Statistical work.
GNACOPS as a council, having parents, teachers and others who have the interest of the growth of education at heart as it major stakeholders has since its establishment been regulating and monitoring the activities of private schools at all levels within the country. Ghana has ten administrative regions and over two hundred district, municipalities and metropolitans. It is therefore highly inaccurate and basically flawed for the unions, including GNECC, to use a population from less than ten out of the over two hundred districts for their research. This child's play research is highly unexpected from a coalition of educational unions looking at the fact that, the conclusions drawn is highly likely to have a great impact on education delivery in this country and for that matter, the future of the child. In this wise, Ghanaians should do their own judgement and draw their own conclusions on the diabolic activities of the unions towards the growth of education in Ghana.
 It is also laughable how the concocted result of their study, showing a clear indication of non-scientific and non-academic research format, was conducted without consulting any of GNACOPS directors especially those in charge of monitoring and evaluations and logistics and planning. It will interest Ghanaians to know that GNACOPS has about seven representatives, five in each district and about three in each circuit in this country who constantly feed the national secretariat with credible information on the activities of private schools. If the teachers union agree to the findings of an armchair research purported to have been conducted in less than ten out of over two hundred districts, there is an indication of either gross ignorance on their part as to the numbers and activities of private schools in Ghana or, they are involved in a grand and diabolic agenda to cripple education, especially at the basic level to a halt.




Why Fight Education Output Fund?
As the gossamer falls of from their accusations, it gradually reveals their grand and selfish scheme. No well-meaning Ghanaian will stand against a donor irrespective of the sector in which the donor is coming to invest except the selfish minded Ghanaian. It is still a puzzle, whose answer should not be far-fetched, why CAPCOE and all the teacher unions who should have embrace EOF for Africa and Middle East, now vehemently kick against it? For the information of the general public, these funds are for institutions who produce better results in terms of education delivery, something the private schools in Ghana are doing with ease.
At this point your guess, fellow Ghanaians, is as good as mine. I can conveniently conclude that the research findings of GNECC, which has been endorsed by the various teacher unions is seriously not just out of ignorance or oversight diabolic scheme to cover up the non-performance of public schools in educational delivery in Ghana especially at the basic level.  Instead of throwing dust into the eyes of the populace, I will implore GNAT, NAGRAT, TEWU, CONCERN and CSOs, with all the resources available to them, to girdle up their loins and work hard to produce better results in other to benefit from the EOF. It shouldn't be a case of not about taken "fat" inherited salaries but rather, the reminder that parents having their wards in both private and public schools sweat to pay them each month through the government.

Punch Below the Belt;
GNACOPS, after a critical study of the activities of private schools has concluded that despite the non-performing nature of some of the public schools, especially in the rural areas of Ghana, private schools should still charge affordable fees that any low income earner can afford. The accusation that private schools charge very low fees to attract parents is a blow below the belt and a drowning person's clutching to a straw in desperation. The primary response is that GNACOPS understand and know the importance of education on our part of the globe as such is placing quality education as a priority to self-enrichment. I must say that most of the category “A” private schools charge a lot of fees and insist on rigorous admission system yet a good number of parents who know the importance of good education enrol their children there. GNACOPS, therefore is looking at how the wards of the majority of parents who have lost trust in the public educational system but cannot afford the fees of the top class private school, to also benefit from quality education.
NOTE: to this point GNAT, NAGRAT, TEWU and GNECC in fabricating stories about private school education in Ghana should remember that it is NOT  high salaries that brings high output of work but rather commitment and love for one's responsibilities.



The Ultimate Question: WHERE ARE THEIR WARDS?
To deal the final blow to the diabolic schemers, I would want to ask a simple question which will demand a silent but truthful answer. I want members of GNAT, NAGRAT, TEWU, CAPCOE and CSOs who are criminalising and bastardising the activities of private school education in Ghana  to be sincere to their colleague Ghanaians and tell them where most of  their children attend schools.  Their answers will stun the whole world. I case say with all confidence that the greater majority of them do not believe in the public school mantra they are resonating. If they really have the interest of education at heart, I don't think they will grind the wheels of the public schools to a near halt and then proceed to attack that of the private schools which is steadily moving towards the path of success.


The constitution of Ghana is emphatic on access to quality education. One thing GNACOPS is passionate about, which also serves as the driving force for its activates is the statistics on the   annual birth ratio and how many schools government built each year to meet the excess. This was an area conspicuously missing from the purported comprehensive report of the GNECC, with the heavenly blessings from the other teachers unions. It is still a puzzle how GNAT, NAGRAT, TEWU, to cover up their POOR PERFORMANCE have now gone to bed with GNECC to fight against the private sector that governments, all over the world, have endorsed as the engine of growth of every economy. If these unions, pride themselves as the overseers of the public school education, then it is no wonder that, especially at the basic level, things are not working even about 20% of how it should be despite the millions of the taxpayer's monies being pumped to that sector by the government. I can say with all pride that without the private sector, as things stands now, the foundation of education in Ghana will forever be weak.

I will rest my case by demanding an unqualified apology form GNAT, NAGRAT, TEWU, CSOs and GNECC, who by their concocted, scientifically malnourished and unacademic report on private school education in Ghana, have insulted the intelligence of the majority of Ghanaians who have benefitted from one way or the other due to the activities of private schools.  They should know that most of the beneficiaries are now in positions of excellence in the running of the economy and other sectors of the countries development.

ENOCH KWASI GETUAH (NATIONAL DIRECTOR-GNACOPS)
0249641349.
SUAKA Desmond (B/A PRO)
0205881914.