NN37, May 2006
Special Theme on Education and Training out of Poverty? A Status Report
THE NATIONAL CENTRE FOR RESEARCH INTO BASIC EDUCATION
By Jophus Anamuah-Mensah, University of Winneba, Ghana
It is said that basic education is the foundation for life and a means for freeing the poor from starvation. Since independence in 1957 Ghana has been struggling to improve its basic education system in order to ensure that its citizens receive quality education that prepares them for life. This struggle began, even earlier, with the launching of the Accelerated Development Plan of 1951. Significant strides were made in enrolments, and innovative schemes such as the establishment of emergency teacher training colleges produced in a short time, teachers for the many new schools. Increase in school attendance justified the initiative but a general fall in academic standards greatly affected the outcomes.Implementation of the 1987 Education Reforms produced similar outcomes. There was a great push in expansion of the school system that had stagnated with economic deterioration in the late 70s and early 80s, but the implementation was such that similar low literacy and numeracy levels of school leavers occurred. The educational reforms were flawed with implementation difficulties, resulting in low literacy and numeracy among school learners. This resulted in general dissatisfaction with this mass educational initiative. The Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE), which is a constitutional provision, is also partly hampered by its inability to meet the goals of education for all, and consequently access to basic education continues to be problematic. Indeed, a large number of children of school going age are generally excluded, especially in deprived communities in Ghana. These issues raise questions about policies and their implementation, which requires evidence-based research into community characteristics including perceptions of the outcomes of education for local, social and economic development. However, coordinated research into basic education in the country has not received the necessary attention required to influence policy decision at the highest level. Indeed educational research in general has not been directed towards addressing issues of interest to the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports and therefore has not featured in discourses on policy formulation and implementation. According to the Chief Director of the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports, the Ministry is in ?search of research that would be relevant to the management of the education sector in Ghana?.
More recently, the Department for International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom selected three research groups to study various aspects of policy and implementation of basic education programmes in the Commonwealth. It is interesting that Ghana is the only country where all three groups have collaborating members working separately in the three areas of basic education: access, quality and outcomes. The collaborating institutions in Ghana are: University of Education, Winneba, University of Cape Coast and Associates for Change. The UEW as a major teacher education institution took advantage of these three strands of research to get the Ministry to agree to set up a National Centre for Research into Basic Education (NaCRIBE).
The Vision
The Centre shall become a nationally and internationally recognised centre for research into basic education in Ghana.
Mission
CRIBE shall serve as a centre of excellence in research into policy and implementation issues related to basic education. It will also act as a training ground for young researchers, a documentation centre, and the first point of reference on issues related to basic education. The Centre shall provide relevant research-based information to the Ministries, communities and schools to improve on access, quality and livelihood and outcomes.
Functions
* Study problems, militating against the implementation of the FCUBE, Education strategic Plan (ESP), MDGs, and EFA goals.
* Coordinate all research in basic education in the country
* Carry out national reviews of studies on basic education
* Host a national centre to copy and store all relevant documents on basic education including documents on research carried out by development partners.
* Organise workshops and seminars on research findings.
* Produce publications such as policy briefs and a Newsletter on the Centre?s activities.
* Provide assistance to the Ministry through greater collaboration between the Ministry and the universities.
* Develop and maintain a website for the Centre.
As a leading Centre for research in basic education, the Centre will attract persons with specialised skills or proven competencies as visiting professors, research associates and visiting researchers The Centre will encourage post doctoral work in basic education with funds from GETFund.
In order to achieve its objectives, the Centre will collaborate with a number of institutions including centre for Policy analysis, Centre for Policy Studies, Ministry of Education, Ghana Education Service, ActionAid and Associates for Change.
The three Consortia groups in Ghana have accepted to make NaCRIBE the focal point for discussions on the work of the group. The Newsletter and Policy Briefs will provide a mouthpiece for the groups. It will also provide opportunity for directors of Education, headteachers, community leaders, parliamentarians and other groups of people with a stake in education to interact on some of the findings of the Centre.