COVID-19: Over 50% Of Private Schools Likely To Fold Up If… - Bulmuo

The Neogenics Education Group, an International Educational Consultancy firm in Ghana has called on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to roll out interventions to support Private Schools in the country in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The Group believes the support would show that government recognized the contribution made by private providers in education from Pre-school to the Senior High School (SHS) levels.

Mr. Grant Bulmuo, Lead Consultant of the Group told the Ghana News Agency that failure on the part of government to intervene would mean allegedly that over two million Ghanaian children would fall behind in their education.

He said this would be at the risk of receiving low quality education with great consequence on the quality of the country’s future human resource.

He estimated that over 50 percent of Private Schools in Ghana were likely to fold up as a result of the adverse impact of the COVID-19 crisis, adding that, a 2018 World Bank report showed that Private Schools constitute over 30 per cent of education provision at the Primary School level and their contribution could not be overstated.

Mr. Bulmuo said further that Ghana’s Educational Sector Performance Report in 2017 gave an indication of how important the private sector education was contributing to the increase in enrolment at the primary level from 4.1 million in 2011/12 to 4.4 million in 2017/18.

The Lead Consultant claims that a recent survey they carried out revealed that in spite of the immense contribution of Private Schools to the provision of education, "vast majority" of them do not have "huge reserves'' to contain the unexpected contingencies like COVID-19.

Mr Bulmuo urged the government to consider an economic and financial stimulus or intervention for private sector basic and secondary schools amidst the pandemic.

Source: GNA