London: Former Minister for Education and 2024 Vice Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has called on governments across developing countries to take full ownership of their education financing programmes instead of relying heavily on externally driven interventions. Speaking during discussions at the Education World Forum in London under the theme 'Leveraging Sustainable Innovative Financing for Education,' Dr Opoku Prempeh emphasized that sustainable transformation in education can only be achieved when governments prioritize the sector and commit their own resources to it.
According to Ghana Web, educational financing should not only focus on the availability of funds, but also on whether countries have the capacity to absorb, manage, and sustain the transformation processes they seek to implement. Dr Opoku Prempeh stated that recognizing education as a national priority is crucial for success, regardless of external funding availability. He argued that governments must efficiently utilize tax revenues to support critical educational needs such as teachers, infrastructure, and other core responsibilities within the sector.
External funding, Dr Opoku Prempeh explained, should only serve as complementary support to bridge existing gaps rather than replace government responsibility. He noted that areas better suited for external support include innovation, sharing best practices from other countries, strengthening ministry capacity, improving logistics and accountability systems, and supporting school communities, school boards, and teacher unions to better understand institutional processes.
Touching on the changing global funding environment, Dr Opoku Prempeh observed that many donor institutions were gradually reducing their support, making it even more critical for governments to take charge of their own programmes. He also urged philanthropies, bilateral institutions, and development partners to align their interventions with government systems instead of independently designing and implementing programmes without sufficient local ownership.
Dr Opoku Prempeh further called for stronger accountability mechanisms that place governments at the centre of educational financing and implementation processes. He emphasized the need for proper discussion of educational financing to ensure ownership and accountability are central to these processes. The Education World Forum brings together policymakers, education ministers, and stakeholders from across the globe to deliberate on reforms, innovation, and sustainable strategies for improving education systems worldwide.