The Executive Director of the National Schools Inspectorate Authority (NaSIA), Dr Haggar Ampadu, has urged private schools in the country to acquaint themselves with the operations of the authority.

She said the schools should continue to do what was right and in tandem with the law to enable them to function effectively.

Dr Ampadu said this at a two-day national conference of the Ghana National Association of Private Schools.

The presence of NASIA at the conference created the opportunity for schools, which are yet to initiate the process of registration, to do so.

Dr Ampadu received concerns from participants and assured them of redress. Notable among them being the charges for school registration and licensing, as well as the bureaucratic chains and requirements in ensuring the registration of schools.

Conference

The conference was held at the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) Hall in Cape Coast on the theme: “Private schools in the post COVID-19 era, strategising for renewed growth.”

“Our core mandate includes school establishment, school licensing, school inspection, school monitoring and evaluation, and school ownership transition. We entreat you all to continue doing the best you can to meet the expectations. Try as much as you can to also adhere to the safety measures put in place against the spread of the COVID-19 in your schools so that we don’t experience any closure,” Dr Ampadu said.

Strategies

The Head of Business, Sinapi Aba Savings and Loans and the Training Director of IDP rising Schools Programme, Mr Vincent Amponsah, elaborated on the strategies that were feasibly attainable in realising a bounce back from the setbacks that emanated from the COVID-19 pandemic.

He highlighted on the fact that private schools must be managed as businesses and not just educational institutions.

He added that the owners must be firm and not rude, innovative to adopt strategic changes, develop the culture of savings, build collaboration and partnership, improve on communication, quality human relations and ultimately have a good welfare system to maintain their schools.

The Executive Director of Top Grades Right Links Consult, Mr D. K. Essel, underscored the need for private schools to attach importance to the wellbeing of their human resources within their schools.

He said “no matter the beauty of your school climate coupled with the best vision and mission statements, it called for human resources to translate the vision into reality.

“It is inevitably imperative that we give the needed decorum to the teachers in our schools and help them develop and help our schools to grow. Teacher turn over in private schools the world over is an indication of the realities there,” he said.

Encouragement

The Omanhen of the Oguaa Traditional Area, Osabarima Kwesi Atta, who chaired the conference, encouraged the private schools across the country to keep working hard.

“We all know the importance of private education in this country. It is up to you to work on that momentum embedded in it. Ensure visibility, training and professionalism. That is what you will be judged by. You must improve on the way you conduct your business and abide by the approved standard principles,” he said.

The Central Regional Minister, Mrs Justina Marigold Assan, said the government recognised the important role private schools played in the social and economic development of the country.

The provision of quality education, she said, was the hallmark of the private sector.

At the event, Dr Damasus Tuurosong was elected President of GNAPS.

The Executive Director of the Top Grades Right Link Consult, Mr D.K. Essel, underscored the need for private schools to attach importance to the well-being of their human resource within their schools.

“No matter the beauty of your school climate and the best vision and mission statements, there is the need for a balance between these two for the development of education in the country”, he said.

Some participants, mostly heads of schools, expressed concern about the 30 per cent placement priority given to the public schools by the computerised selection and school placement system and the high Basic Education Certificate Examination registration charges.