The Ministry of Education, Science and Sports is to set up an inde¬pendent National Inspectorate Board (NIB) to for¬mulate, set and enforce standards in all pre-tertiary schools. The NIB will also undertake external evaluation of all pre-tertiary institutions in the country. The establishment of the board forms part of the education reforms of the Pre-tertiary sector. A country paper of Ghana presented at the on-going third Regional Conference on Secondary Edu¬cation and Training (SEIA) in Africa re¬vealed that under the management of secondary education of the Ministry of Education, the NIB shall ensure that schools are inspected at least once every three years, by trained inspection panels to ensure quality standards. It explained that the Inspectorate Panels would liaise with Regional and District Directorates of Education, which would be responsible for all routine internal inspection and supervision. The board, it said would make public its annual findings on the state of education in the country. According to the paper, emphasis was being placed on monitoring and evaluation strategies to ensure that quality education is delivered at the secondary level. In addition, civil society and the community would be actively involved in the education management. It said decentralisation would be the key to improving the efficiency of education management and ser¬vices. Furthermore, it said planning, prioritisation and implementation would be directly influenced by and be responsive to local needs and priorities of students, parents, and communities. Credit: Ghanaian Times