IEGA Project in Northern Region Enhance Educational Structures

Hardi Tijani, Executive Dir. RAINS

Timely steps taken by the Regional Advisory Information and Network Systems (RAINS) to deal with challenges militating against quality education delivery in four districts in the Northern Region of Ghana, could soon yield substantial results in schools and pupils performances.

Challenges such as teacher absenteeism, truancy, low enrollment levels, lack of teachers’ accommodation, lack of teaching and learning materials, irregular PTA, SMC and DEOC meetings among others, are widely believed to contribute to poor performances of schools in the Northern Region.

According to the Ghana Education Service, nearly 1million children nationwide are out of school. Whereas there are no schools in some communities for parents to enroll their wards, there are indeed schools in other communities, but parents also do not see the need to enroll their wards.      

The above factors including other considerations informed the decision by RAINS to implement the “Improving Educational Governance and Accountability in Northern Region (IEGA)” project in the Savelugu-Nanton Municipality, Gushegu, Karaga and West Mamprusi Districts. In each of these districts, the project was implemented in two selected communities covering a total of eight communities.

The three year IEGA project, aimed at addressing the growing levels of inadequate quality education delivery at the basic school levels which lead to undesirable education outcomes. The overarching goal of the project was to strengthen education governance and management so as to ensure quality education delivery in the four deprived districts.

PTA, SMC Meeting at Moglaa

With the successful implementation of this project, it is now expected that performances of schools and pupils in the beneficiary districts would improve remarkably well, thereby leading to a reduction in the huge number of candidates who fail at the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) every year.

A Project Officer at RAINS, Mohammed Saani told Savannahnews that, prior to the implementation of IEGA, there was evidence the Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs), School Management Committees (SMCs), District Education Oversight Committees (DEOCs) and even Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in the various districts were ineffective.

Due to the ineffectiveness of these structures, performances of schools and pupils in the districts were not the best and therefore, there was the need to reinvigorate the structures to enable them function well and effectively play their oversight roles and responsibilities. 

As the project came to an end in November, the objective of having the capacity of the leadership of the various educational structures in all four districts enhanced had been achieved. Also, the leaderships of all the various structures were now more aware of their roles and responsibilities in education governance and management better than before.

Mr. Saani noted that, as a result of IEGA, there were now quarterly district education review meetings which provide opportunity for education stakeholders to assess performance and challenges of schools, and the way forward on how to deal with challenges that confront education delivery.

RAINS, is a non-governmental organisation set up by a group of social development activists in Northern Ghana in 1993. Since its foundation, RAINS has focused on improving the quality of life particularly for children, women and girls in the Northern Region.