Educationist and former Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Professor Stephen Adei, has slammed the Ghana Education Service (GES), describing it as an inefficient bureaucracy incapable of meeting the education sector’s needs.

His comments come in the wake of a JoyNews Hotline investigation led by GH Probe’s Francisca Enchil, which exposed how some GES officials, supervisors, headteachers, and invigilators allegedly turned the examination process into an organised crime syndicate, trading academic integrity for financial gain.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Monday, September 8, Prof. Adei strongly advocated for mission schools to be handed back to church management, blaming over-centralisation under the GES for inefficiency and a breakdown of discipline.

“I’m a Christian, I love Jesus Christ,” he declared. “And I think that we must bring in the churches again to manage [the schools]. GES has proven itself that it is becoming a big elephant not able to turn fast.”

Call for Decentralisation and Accountability

Prof Adei argued that government’s centralised control has created a culture where misconduct goes unpunished and authority is undermined. He suggested that churches should once again run mission schools they originally founded — but without government funding.

“Let the schools be given back to the churches managing it, not national funding,” he said. “As soon as an organisation becomes centralised too much, you are in trouble.”

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To illustrate his point, Prof Adei recounted an incident shared by a Catholic priest in Obuasi. According to the priest, a teacher was asked not to return to school due to misconduct. When questioned about the decision, the teacher boldly responded: “Father, you can do nothing to me. You can report me to GES, nothing will happen.”

Prof Adei said this reflected the deep-seated lack of accountability within the current system.

“When there is a system like that, even angels will be corrupted,” he lamented, stressing the urgent need for reform to restore discipline, integrity, and efficiency to Ghana’s education sector.