On Monday, September 18 at 4:00 PM, Eduwatch facilitated the airing of a documentary on barriers to gender-friendly school environment in Ghana's basic schools on Joynews Pulse. The documentary was produced by Eduwatch with support from Oxfam.

The documentary highlights the responsiveness of initial teacher education curriculum to gender equity and girls’ participation in education, the effects of distance to school on enrolment and retention, and prevalence of school-related gender-based violence. The documentary can be accessed via the link below:
https://africaeducationwatch.org/video/barriers-to-gender-friendly-school-environment

© Africa Education Watch

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) held a stakeholders’ meeting at the Kairaba Beach Hotel in Banjul from 19th to 21st September, 2023, to validate an action plan to guide countries in implementing Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) to unlock its transformative potential. The action plan was reviewed and validated as part of a monitoring framework for TVET strategy.

Participants underscored the fact that, TVET is not just about imparting skills; but also about encouraging innovation, creativity and flexibility in the face of a rapidly changing technological environment. Approval of the TVET action plan - a carefully produced document outlining implementation tactics, was the focal point of the meeting. It was the outcome of numerous hours of discussion, research and insight from the group.

In his address, the Executive Director of Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch), Mr. Kofi Asare asserted that “It is important for the ECOWAS Secretariat to provide the necessary policy and institutional reform support to member states in the process of harmonizing TVET governance”. He also called for a similar support from ECOWAS and the African Union (AU) towards the full operationalization of a National TVET Qualification Framework in member states, to ensure that national frameworks are aligned with the AU’s continental TVET qualification framework.

In attendance were ten ECOWAS states; Ghana, Nigeria, Togo, Benin, Ivory Coast, Cape Verde, Sierra Leone, Liberia, the Gambia and Guinea Bissau. Delegates from United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Foundation for Security Development in Africa (FOSDA), Oxford Committee for Famine Relief (OXFAM) and Eduwatch were present at the meeting as part of policy makers, educators and industry leaders poised to validate the innovative TVET action plan.

© Africa Education Watch

On Friday September 29, Eduwatch honoured the invitation of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) and Dreamweavers Foundation to engage student leaders at the 2023 National Students Leaders Capacity Building Workshop. The workshop sought to enhance the capacities of Student Leaders from various tertiary institutions across the country to better serve their constituents and lead meaningful advocacies.

Representing Eduwatch, Senior Programme Officer, Divine Kpe made a presentation on the topic "Understanding Ghana's Education Ecosystem", which sought to help the student leaders understand the policy and practice issues across the sub-sectors of the education sector to inform their education activism.

The Workshop was attended by newly elected student leaders from the various Tertiary Institutions across the country.

© Africa Education Watch

On Thursday October 5, Eduwatch and Actionaid held a conference to disseminate the findings of a study on tax reforms and education financing at the University of Ghana. The study produced a report dubbed, "Tax Reforms, Education Financing, and Equitable Access to Public Education: Roles of Citizens, Local and Central Government" which examined existing tax architecture for education financing, and the implications of recent tax reforms on education financing and service delivery. It also assessed the effectiveness of existing mechanisms for citizens' demand for accountability in education service delivery at the local government level.

The study reports recommended the following among others;

1. Assemblies should expand revenue mobilization scope to include uncaptured economic units.
2. Assemblies should map out corporate organizations and NGOs in their jurisdictions, develop and implement corporate sector partnership strategy to mobilize support for public basic education.
3. The Ministry of Finance must allocate the constitutionally approved share of the Consolidated Fund to the DACF.
4. The Ministry of Education must allocate at least 20% of GETFund to basic school infrastructure in 2024.

Participants included the Adminstrator of GETFund, a Deputy Director of the Local Government Service, the Assistant Commissioner in charge of Research at the Ghana Revenue Authority, Directors of Education, representatives from Civil Society, National PTA, and District/Municipal Assemblies.

The full report and policy briefs can be accessed via the links below: Study report:
https://africaeducationwatch.org/publication/tax-reforms-and-educ-financing-report

Policy Brief 1:
https://africaeducationwatch.org/publication/civil-societies-engagement-in-local-governance

Policy Brief 2:
https://africaeducationwatch.org/publication/the-case-of-adentan-municipality

The study and the dissemination were supported by ActionAid Ghana.

© Africa Education Watch

1.4 million Ghanaian children aged 4-17 are out of school (GSS, 2021). Ghana needs over 2,000 new basic schools to provide access to free basic education for these poor ones.

We already have 5,400 schools under trees to build; only 36 have been completed in 2 years. At this pace, it will take 300 years to eliminate schools under trees alone.

Internally Generated Funds from local governments, a fluctuating District Assemblies Common Fund and a capped GETFund cannot provide the infrastructure essentials of free, inclusive basic education.

District Assemblies, as mandated by law to provide basic school infrastructure, require a corporate participation strategy.

Eduwatch is working with the Adenta Municipal Assembly and the Office of the Head of the local Government Service to develop and pilot one.

© Africa Education Watch

Today is International Day of the Girl 2023!

It marks 11 years since the United Nations General Assembly declared October 11asInternational Day of the Girl (IDG), to recognize girls’ rights and the unique challengesthey face. The IDG focuses attention on the need to promote girls’ empowerment andthe fulfilment of their human rights.

This year’s theme, "Invest in Girls' Rights: Our Leadership, Our Well-being",re-emphasizes the urgent need for increased commitment and resourcing of keyareasthat enhance the educational potential of girls across the globe.

With about seven (7) years to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)deadline, Africa has an average SDGs score of 53.82 points, after getting morethanhalfway through the implementation

While school enrolments have significantly increased in Africa, with more girls gainingaccess to quality education, there still exist significant deficits in the participationofgirls in education at all levels. Today, some 98 million children between six (6) and18years in Sub-Saharan Africa are still out of school, with 50 million being girls2. Theregion is the lowest scoring with regard to gender parity in education with an overall score of 54 per cent against the global average of 75 per cent3

Barriers to girls’ participation in education including long distances commutedtoschool,dilapidated school infrastructure including the lack of desks, the lack of separatetoiletfacilities and changing rooms for girls, and access to menstrual hygiene kits, continueto pose significant challenges to the realization of gender parity at all levels intheeducation system.

Underlying these challenges is a low, untargeted and inefficient financingof girls’ education by African governments.

African governments and the international community should showmore commitmentto financing girls education by making more targeted investments to promotegirlsparticipation in education and skills training for girls, especially those frompoorhouseholds.

Accra, October 11, 2023.

1 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Report 2023. https://dashboards.sdgindex.org/rankings
2 UNESCO (2021)
3 GPE (2021). https://www.globalpartnership.org/blog/girls-education-ghana-fighting-barriers-beyong-gender-parity

© Africa Education Watch