Education Ministry signs performance agreement with agencies

The Ministry of Education on Tuesday signed Performance Agreements with Board Chairmen and Heads of Councils as well as Chief Executives from 16 agencies under the Ministry in Accra.

The institutions had previously selected and agreed on their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and targets for 2019 geared towards the implementation of the education reforms outlined in the Education Strategic Plan (ESP 2018 – 2030) that has the objective of making Ghana “a learning nation.”

Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, Minister for Education said in his remarks that this is the first time in the history of his Ministry that Heads of Agencies are being asked to sign Performance Agreements.

“You may recall that in November 2018, Cabinet approved the Education Strategic Plan (2018-2030) and with-it priority reforms including the following: Teacher Education Reform through “Transforming Teacher Education and Learning” – T-TEL; The Design of a new Pre-Tertiary education curriculum with Standards and Assessment frameworks;   Operationalization of Pre-Tertiary Teacher Professional and Management Development Framework including the licensing and registration of teachers and Continuous Professional Development for Teachers through NTC and Introduction of a new school supervision and inspection system through NIB.

The rest are GES Institutional Reform; Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Reform; Tertiary Education Reform; Education Decentralization; Legal, Institutional and Regulatory Reforms and ICT in Education Reforms among others

“The reform initiatives are aimed at addressing the current weaknesses in Ghana’s education sector, improving the legal, institutional, and regulatory framework for education service delivery, and providing clear performance standards to guide teaching, learning, assessment and grading of students”.

As part of the performance contract, quarterly and annual review meetings have been established. These are called “Accounting to the Minister Forum” during which there will be a thorough assessment of Key Performance Indicators, key milestones and targets.

The Minister again stated, “under this new initiative, Chief Executives and their Board and Council Chairs will be jointly held accountable for performance. “Best performing Chief Executives will be recognized appropriately and agencies that will be found lagging behind will be supported to improve on their performance. Appropriate sanctions will be applied to those who persistently fail to meet expected targets”.

He thanked the UK government for partnering with the Government of Ghana.

On behalf of the agencies, Prof Eric Magnus Wilmot, chair of the National Inspectorate Board, thanked the minister and stated: “These targets are not an imposition; we set these targets. Now we have a ministry that says I am willing to partner with you and support you. The Performance Agreements give us the chance to meet our minister often and discuss issues”.

The agencies that signed the performance contracts are as follows:

National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE), National Accreditation Board, National Council for Curriculum Assessment (NaCCA), and Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (COTVET). Others are National Teaching Council, National Inspectorate Board, Ghana Education Service (GES), Centre for Distance and Open Learning (CENDLOS), and National Service Scheme (NSS).

The rest are Student Loan Trust Fund, Ghana Library Authority, Ghana Book Development Council, and Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS).