Empowerment or Impairment? Involving Traditional Communities in School Management

Decentralisation in education, institutional culture and teacher autonomy in Ghana

“…The sector-wide Policy Investment Framework for education included the specific aim of supporting private provision of education as a complement to public provision (MOE, 2000). Together with the emphasis on the promotion of private sector involvement in education, the Policy Investment Framework promotes administrative decentralisation, and participation of stakeholders in decision-making (MOE, 2000;Chapman et al, 2002) This trend coincides with advocacy for community participation in school management as a means of promoting local ownership and mobilising local resources (MOE, 2000;Mfum-Mensah, 2004). However, the Policy Investment Framework leaves significant questions unanswered-including how the private sector will be monitored in relation to quality and access, the ability of the private sector to grow to meet the targets set and how this growth will affect government provision (Akukwe, 2001).…”

“…The form of decentralisation that has been implemented is, in reality, deconcentration (see Bray, 2003), because local district councils have had no autonomous sources of revenue, and are generally administrative implementing bodies for policies decided at the centre (Parker & Serrano, 2000). In general it is evident that, despite policy commitments, the government is reluctant to redistribute its functions to local councils, resulting in slow progress, although it has not attempted to halt the decentralisation process altogether (Chapman et al, 2002;Mfum-Mensah, 2004).…”

“…On the one hand, the trend towards decentralisation can be seen as emerging as a result of the pressure of those groups within the country who demanded democracy also seeing stronger locally elected authorities as a key element in the process of change. The newly elected government in 1992 adopted poverty alleviation as its strategy, with decentralisation as one way of operationalising this, by providing the local level with greater control and voice (Chapman et al, 2002;Mfum-Mensah, 2004). On the other hand, it is evident that international agencies, which supported the move towards democracy, followed this with pressure for the inclusion of decentralisation priority within policy documents.…”

“…Yet it was unclear to government officials how actors in the education sector would respond to that configuration of the relationship between state and school. Ministry employees did not have a clear picture of how local actors would react to newly created opportunities to shape policy and practice in the schools (Eghan & Odum, 1989;Mankoe, 1992;Asare-Bediako & BoachieDanquah, 1995;Chapman et al, 2002;Mfum-Mensah, 2004). In promoting educational decentralisation, the Ministry of Education (MOE) was entering uncharted territory.…”

“…During the final two decades of the 20th century, Ghana, one of the most highly centralised nations in Africa (Eghan & Odum, 1989;Mankoe, 1992;Akukwe, 2001;Chapman et al, 2002;Mfum-Mensah, 2004), reversed course and began promulgating legislation designed to accord increased authority to sub-national levels. All sectors of government were affected by that push for decentralisation, which the World Bank labelled a 'make or break issue' for the country (Akukwe, 2001).…”