Enough of Frequent Changes in Educational Policies!

Professor Kwesi Yankah, the Minister of State in charge of Tertiary Education, spoke the minds of many Ghanaians when he called for a halt in the persistent changes in educational policies in the country, anytime there is a change in government.

The minister has echoed the sentiments of many concerned Ghanaians, especially parents whose children bear the brunt of the frequent changes in educational policies.

For many years, Ghanaians had to endure changes in educational policies as soon as there is a change in political leadership of the country which is often explained away as the best for the country. But is that the case?

Indeed, without any scientific basis, as Prof Yankah stressed, educational policies are altered and that continues to affect the performance of students particularly at the Senior High School level.

The Ghanaian Times and majority of Ghanaians support Prof Yankah's call for measures to be instituted to ensure that educational interventions that promote positive outcomes were consolidated and insulated from changes by politicians.

"It is important that we come to the realisation that the usual swings in educational policies as a result of changes in government, also affect the outcomes of the results.

In a situation where we want to change whatever policies or interventions put in by a regime, we must allow that interventions to run its full course, so we can assess it empirically before offering the change," he emphasised.

Of course, this should be the common sense approach to a critical sector like education but politics rather than scientific approach has led us to take decisions that truncate policies that should have been allowed to run their full course.

By so doing, we are unable to assess the policies, identify its weakness and correct the policy makers to be clear on the way forward.

Regrettably, the education sector appears to be unsettled and policies continue to change and that keep on affecting the performance of students.

We fully support the Minister of State in-charge of Tertiary education in calling for a halt in policy shift anytime there is change in government.

It is time the country adopted a single policy that must be allowed to run its full course before being reviewed to make it better.

The frequent changes as has been said earlier, are detrimental to the education of students in the country.

We urge the government including parliament, political parties, and civil society organisations, to work together to fashion out a suitable educational policy that would be acceptable to all.

The frequent changes in the policies must end now!

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