A policy dialogue workshop to make education inclusive, engaging and adaptive for all stakeholders begun in Accra yesterday.

The 2-day policy dialogue is aimed at deliberating on the Innovative Pedagogies Project, an educational plan, and soliciting ideas and information on the gaps and barriers in the country’s educational system.

It is an initiative by the Ministry of Education in collaboration with the Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (IEPA) with support from the Education Commission, United States.

Dr Sam Awuku, Lead, Innovative Pedagogies Project, in a presentation yesterday said the Education Commission in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic struck the world, felt the need for governments to come together to deliberate on education to ensure that learning crisis prior to COVID-19 did not repeat itself.

He said the commission working with stakeholders engaged 163 countries and developed a white paper called “Save our Future” which had seven action areas.

They were “Prioritise reopening schools, deliver vital services to children, and treat the workforce as frontline workers; Make education inclusive, engaging, and adaptive and Strengthen the education workforce.”

Others included “Focus education technology (EdTech) where it is proven to be effective and most equitable; Protect education budgets and target public spending at those left furthest behind; Mobilise international resources to fully finance education and Use resources better by improving evidence generation, coordination, alignment, and effectiveness.”

He said the intention of the project was to create political awareness about these areas and the need for countries to be intentional about making education system adaptive, adding that “if we do not do that and another pandemic strikes, how would education respond quickly?” he queried.

Dr Awuku said that was the reason the three countries, including Ghana, Rwanda and Kenya, where the project was being initiated were to identify gaps in their educational systems and solve them.

He said there was the pressing need for education to shift in purpose, from competency and competitiveness in the marketplace to co-existence and sustainable living.

The Director-General, IEPA, Dr Michael Boakye-Yiadom, in an interview with the Ghanaian Times stated that the project which was in its first phase and began last month, was to cover primary school learners and ensure that they were engaged equally for the same results, after they had been taught.

He stressed that the project was also to forestal learning crisis where “kids at a particular age are expected to demonstrate some competencies and skills, especially in numeracy and literacy but are unable to.”

Dr Boakye-Yiadom said the institute was excited about the project because it was committed to educational planning, quality education and equity issues in education.