3 political parties denounce privatisation of public basic schools

Three leading political parties in the country have denounced the privatisation of public basic schools in the country.

According to the parties, their various manifestos were rather bent on partnering with faith-based organisations and other not for profit organisations to better strengthen and improve on the infrastructural needs of the institutions.

The parties are the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the People National Convention (PNC).

They expressed their views at a day’s forum at Accra, aimed at dialoguing with political parties on Public Private Partnership (PPP) strategies in Education for the purpose of influencing their manifestoes ahead of the 2020 election.

A PPP in education can be any collaboration between the private sector and the state, whether to produce textbooks, build school infrastructure, or design learning software.

The meeting was organised by the Coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) against the privatisation of education in Ghana.

It was attended by representatives of the various political parties, Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Coalition of Concerned Teachers–Ghana (CCT-GH), Teachers and Education Workers Union (TEWU), Education International (EI), Africa and Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC), Oxfam International.

Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, Deputy Minister of Education in charge of Basic and Secondary Education, who represented the NPP, said government would not privatise public basic education in the country.

He explained that PPP in education was different from that in the utility sector, where it was profit-oriented, stressing that religious organisations running schools were other forms of partnership where they supported basic institutions.

According to Dr Adutwum, government would rather strengthen its partnership with non-profit organisations and empower them to participate in the delivery of quality education in the country. 

“As a party, we believe that the fortunes of this nation is tied to how well we can educate our children,” he said, adding that the circle of poverty in the country could not be broken if the poor did not have access to quality education. 

Dr Adutwum said the NPP in its 2016 manifesto, stated that “we will build an effective partnership with religious bodies, civic organisations and the private sector in the delivery of quality education.”

Mr Peter Nortsu-Kotoe Member of Parliament for Akasti North, indicated that as part of providing quality education in the country, the NDC had never thought of privatising basic education using public funds to support private individuals to run public institutions.

He said the NDC was focused on partnering faith-based organisations to provide quality education and manage schools on behalf of government, to strengthen the educational offices of missions and provide discipline in the various schools.

Mr Bernard Mornah, National Chairman of the PNC, said education was a human right, and need not be compromised, stressing that it was a freedom everyone was entitled to and could not be compromised.

“We in the PNC do not think that the PPP is an answer to problems in education,” he emphasised.

Mr Mornah urged stakeholders to relook certain educational reforms like corporal punishment in schools, to keep students on their toes, and advocated the translation of text books into various local languages to improve understanding of students.


Miss Gifty Apanbil, acting General Secretary of GNAT, said the PPP was a threat to achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 4 and other related SDGs stressing that education was central to achieving the SDGs.

She noted that the constitution of Ghana emphasised the need to provide free quality education for all.

“Education is a social good and government must be mindful of this and should not be allowed to be considered as a business commodity, the PPPs would widen the gap between the poor and the rich,” Ms Apanbil added.

BY ALLIA NOSHIE