The Executive Director of Eduwatch, Kofi Asare says recent decisions by the Education Minister indicates he is out to implement his ideas and not well-thought-out policy reforms.

According to him, the lack of a policy document to guard the so-called reform provides no avenue for educationists and other stakeholders to add their input and concerns to the document as it is being implemented.

This he says renders the entire reform as the brainchild of the Education Minister and none other excluding those the reform directly affects.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, Kofi Asare mentioned that previous education reforms had not taken such a clandestine and obscure format to be implemented and thus encouraged stakeholders to take interest in the implementation and success of same.

“The education reform of 2007, district consultations were held and my organisation participated at the community level, in the district level, in Twifo-Hemang Lower Denkyira at Twifo Praso at the forecourt of the Assembly.

“At the end of that extensive nationwide consultation, a document was developed which was the reform document. So it was an amalgam, a compendium of all the concerns, aspirations, the opinions that citizens expressed in respect of the challenges that President Kuffour wanted to resolve. When that document was launched by President Kufour at the National Theatre, I was there.

“Now, what I want to say is every practitioner, every parent, every partner CSO had a copy of this reform document which guarded all of us in respect of our collective responsibility in contributing to its success. Now that is how you do reform and expect all stakeholders to come onboard and play their role,” he said.

Bemoaning the circumstance of this reform, Kofi Asare noted that without a policy document to define the so-called reform, it prevents educationists and other stakeholders from having a voice in what should go into the reform and how it should be implemented.

“This reform we have has no reform document. This reform we have has no policy. So you haven’t defined the reform and documented it neither have you developed policies in the various reform areas that can be reviewed.

“So, on what basis would you expect educationists to make an input into the reform if there’s no policy guarding the reform and there’s no reform document? Then it means that what you’re doing is that you’re actually implementing ideas,” he said.

He added that “Three weeks ago the Minister and the President cut sod for a STEM Academy. And when stakeholders asked for a policy document guarding that STEM Academy, 30million cedis project…they said in two weeks’ time the policy document will be ready.

“Do you cut a sod for a 30 million project for a STEM Academy, something new in Ghana, we don’t know what it’s about, new, and the policy document will be ready after? It means that you are implementing ideas you’re not implementing policies and that is my key problem.”