The National Schools Inspectorate Authority (NaSIA) is committed to ensuring reforms to sanitise the pre-tertiary educational level, Executive Director of the authority, DrHaggar Hilda Ampadu, has assured.

She said the move, apart from promoting standards and eliminating schools, which did not satisfy the basic inspectorate requirements, would also help improve learning and school performance.

DrAmpadu in an interview with the Ghanaian Times, in Accra last Thursday, said “we cannot continue to complain about falling standards of education in our country and yet want to do things in the same old fashion and expect new outcomes.”

She explained that “ensuring standards imply that we must move away from the days when people just get up to establish schools without having in place the basic logistics like the right infrastructure, conducive learning environment and human resource, and even where the schools have been established already, we must help them to get these basic resources to enable schools become fit for purpose.”

DrAmpadusaidsafeguardingthosestandards had everything to do with quality education which also had everything to do with learning outcomes and performance.

As such, in line with the mandate of the newly created authority, she said a lot of work would be done to promote standards in our schools, from nursery to the secondary levels.

NaSIA, formerly referred to as the National Inspectorate Board (NIB),was created as a statutory body through the Education Regulatory Bodies Act 2020 (Act 1023).

It is clothed to take charge of the supervision and inspection architecture of public and private pre-tertiary schools in the country as part of its mandate.

NaSIAis also charged to set and enforce standards to be observed at the public and private pre-tertiary education level with the power to reprimand or close down any school that does not measure up to the standards.

Touching on the recent agitations by the Private Education Coalition (PEC) over the authority’s decision to enforce the rules, DrAmpadu said it was important for all Ghanaians to appreciate the fact that it is tasked to serve the common good of all.

She said the doors of the authority were open for dialogue and finding an amicable resolution to issues, once it inured to the benefit of society.

DrAmpadu said it was erroneous to be accused of charging exorbitant and unapproved fees under the pretext of licensing and registering schools in order to be able to operate.

She explained that the Act which established the authority, specifically spells out its functions, detailing what it could do and what it could not do.

These functions Dr Ampadu noted, included; publishing the school effectiveness standards and guidelines developed for pre-tertiary education institutions.

In addition it was required to prescribe disciplinary measures for pre-tertiary education institutions that would fail to comply with the standards and guidelines issued by the Authority, publish reports and findings on the performance of pre-tertiary education institutions.

Furthermore, she said NaSIAhas the powers to recommend that pre-tertiary institutions be managed through Public Private partnerships, register private pre-tertiary institutions and temporarily or permanently in consultation with the Minister of Education and the Regional Education Directorate or District Assembly close down a pre-tertiary institution that fails to meet the standards set by the Authority.