The Ministry of Education says it will initiate steps to amend the Pre-Tertiary Education Act, 2020 (Act 1049), to ensure appropriate representation of recognised faith-based organisations on the Ghana Education Service (GES) Council. 

The announcement follows concerns raised by the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference over its exclusion from the current GES Council. 

The Deputy Minister of Education, Dr Clement Apak, in a statement on Thursday, August 27, said the concerns were receiving due consideration. 

The Ministry acknowledged the significant contribution of faith-based institutions to the development of Ghana’s educational system and would ensure their representation to address the growing indiscipline in the educational sector. 

It explained that the Ghana Education Service Act, 1995 (Act 506), provided for three representatives of faith-based organisations on the GES Council. 

However, the subsequent Pre-Tertiary Education Act, 2020 (Act 1049), reduced the provision to one representative. 

The statement said the change created what it described as “an anomaly in the representation of faith-based organisations.” 

“When constituting the GES Council in 2025, it recognised the inadequacy of the provision and decided to hold on to the arrangement pending an amendment to the law,” it said. 

The proposed amendment would take into account the government’s decentralisation policy on education, the statement said, adding that it had been engaging relevant stakeholders on the matter. 

The Ministry reiterated its commitment to an inclusive and consultative approach to education governance and said it would continue engaging stakeholders to strengthen the education sector. 

It also acknowledged the contribution of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference and other faith-based organisations to education in Ghana and called on them to work with the Government to address the “growing indiscipline in the education sector while the legislative review was being pursued.”