Education Policy Research and Advocacy Organisation, Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch) has questioned the emergency preparedness of the country’s educational sector.

This comes on the back of the spillage of the Kpong and Akosombo dams which has disrupted education for two weeks in some affected districts and communities in the Volta Region. 

In a statement issued on Sunday, 22 October 2023, sympathising with families affected by the spillage of the dams, Eduwatch indicated that in 2020, during the COVID-19 crisis, it called for the adoption and operationalisation of an Education In Emergency (EIE) Plan for Ghana; a plan that provides the necessary values, guidelines and processes that must be followed by Education Sector Institutions and Local Governments in the event of a disaster that has the potential of disrupting education systems in any district in Ghana.

This, the Education Policy Research and Advocacy Organisation, revealed “is yet to fully materialise, as the process for developing an EIE Plan for Ghana has dragged for years”.

It explained that: “An EIE Plan should recognise that, education is an immediate and urgent basic need in crisis contexts, just like food and health services, and must be an integral part of any humanitarian response.”

Eduwatch stressed that: “It is critical that people’s right to education is not hampered in times of emergency."

The Education Policy Research and Advocacy Organisation, therefore, made some recommendations including calling on the “Ministry of Education to support the Ghana Education Service and the Centre for National Distance Learning and Open Schooling (CENDLOS) to deploy pre-recorded learning content used during the COVID-19 school closure on media networks and energy efficient mobile learning devices in the affected areas.”

It urged District Assemblies to work “closely with Education Directors to identify safe shelters for students to gather and participate in the virtual learning deployment under the guidance of teachers or facilitators.”

It further urged the “Ministry of Education to speed up the process of finalising, resourcing, and implementing an EIE Plan for Ghana.”

Eduwatch also called for “regular support of Education Development Partners and Non-Governmental Organisations towards providing education aid and restoring education service in the affected districts.”