Mission Statement
The Ministry of Education exists to carry out the Government's vision of using quality education delivery to accelerate the nation's socio economic development through the following action plan:

1. Expanding access to education at all level of education
2. Providing and improving infrastructural facilities
3. Raising the quality of teaching and learning for effective outcomes
4. Making education more relevant to national goals and aspiration by focusing on vocational and technical education
5. Making tertiary education more cost effective.

Aims and Objectives
The overall goal of the Ministry is to provide relevant and quality education for all Ghanaians especially the disadvantaged to enable them acquire skills which will make them functionally literate and productive to facilitate poverty alleviation and promote the rapid socio-economic growth of the country.

Achievements
Resources allocation towards the FCUBE programme has been increased to ensure total implementation. New textbooks had been printed and distributed throughout the country. Basic and Secondary Education books covering the whole spectrum of their syllabus including additional reading supplementary books totaling 6,762,390 of various assortment has been distributed.

• Moreover, there is an ongoing programme to supply adequate furniture to all the basic schools. It is expected that, by the middle of 2003, every pupil and student in Ghana will have a desk and a chair for studies.
• In infrastructure, the Ministry has completed the construction, rebuilding and rehabilitation of 4254 structures including 44.4-unit teacher accommodation.
• The Ministry has established 20 vocational institutions throughout the country (2 institution in each region).
• Enrolment in all the levels of education has increased significantly as a result of the good policy of the Ministry. Basic schools has seen over 4.5% increase, while the secondary level between 1990-2002 saw an increase of over 4.7% while the tertiary level has seen an increase of between 10%-100% over the period 1995-2002.
• Other intervention programmes which have helped enhance effective teaching and learning were all successful.

These programmes were aimed at quality improvement in all levels of the education structure. Some of the programmes are

• Child school community processing education.
• Performance monitoring test/school performance appraisal.
• School health education programme.
• Upgrading of one Senior Secondary School in each district
• Promoting science technology and mathematics education.
• Strengthening information and communication technology
• Teacher training and development programmes
• Provision of incentives to teachers
• Accelerating promotions when it is due
• Promotion of distance education
• Provision of new infrastructure in the tertiary institution to increase their intake capacity.

Ghana Education Reform 2007

The implementation of Ghana's most recent education reform, which began in 1987, brought to the fore many problems in the objectives, content, administration and the management of education.

Prior to its assumption of office in 2001, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) had serious reservations concerning certain aspects of the reforms, and doubts which were shared by wide sections of the public, especially parents.

The then President of the Republic, H.E. Mr. J.A. Kufuor, articulated some of these concerns in his inaugural address in January, 2001.

The Government of the NPP shares with the people the passionate interest in education, and the anxiety to bring about constant improvements in its availability and relevance, as evidenced by the large number of Review Committees, Commissions, etc. on education dating back to colonial times.

Government is also painfully aware of the failure of many of the attempts to reform the public education system. There has been a continuing aim to make education more relevant to the world of work after school, to rural development and modernisation of the predominantly agriculture-based economy, as well as the need to promote national and cultural identity and citizenship.

However, results have been mixed. And more recently, there has been almost unanimous agreement that under the latest 1987 reforms, public education in Ghana has failed to meet expectations in terms of its coverage, quality, equitableness and economic utility.

THE 2002 REVIEW COMMITTEE

The then President of the Republic, H.E. Mr. J.A. Kufuor, inaugurated A Committee on Review of Education Reforms in Ghana on 17th January 2002. The 29-member Committee comprised knowledgeable Ghanaians drawn from a cross-section of stakeholders in the education sector. Professor Jophus Anamuah-Mensah, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Education, Winneba (UNEW) was the Chairman of the Committee.

TERMS OF REFERENCE

The Committee was tasked to review the entire educational system in the country with the view to making it more responsive to current challenges. Specifically, the Committee was required to examine the structure of education and to discuss issues affecting the development and delivery of education, the constrained access to different levels of the educational ladder, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Distance Education, professional development and the management and financing of education, in addition to other cross-cutting issues concerning the sector.

Key points of the new education system:

1. Universal Basic Education shall now be 11 years, made up of:

2 years of Kindergarten
6 years of Primary School
3 years of Junior High School (JHS)

2. The medium of instruction in Kindergarten and Lower Primary will be a Ghanaian language and English.

3. At the basic level, emphasis shall be on Literacy, Numeracy, Creative Arts and Problem Solving Skills.

4. After JHS, students may choose to go into different streams at Senior High School (SHS), comprising General Education and Technical, Vocational and Agricultural and Training (TVET) or enter into an apprenticeship scheme with some support from the Government.

5. A new 4-year SHS will offer General Education with electives in General, Business, Technical, Vocational and Agriculture options for entry into a tertiary institution or the job market.

6. Technical, Vocational and Agricultural Institutions will offer 4-year courses including the core SHS subjects.

7. Teacher Training Colleges will be upgraded and conditions of service of teachers improved, with special incentives for teachers in rural areas.

8. Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) shall be responsible for the infrastructure, supervision and monitoring of Basic and Senior High Schools.

9. A new National Inspectorate Board (NIB) outside the Ghana Education Service (GES) but under the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports (MOESS) shall be responsible for periodic inspection of Basic and Secondary Schools to ensure quality education.

10. Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) and cost-sharing at the Senior high and tertiary levels shall be maintained.

11. Educational services will be widened to include Library and Information, Guidance and Counselling and Distance Education.

12. The Private Sector will be encouraged to increase its participation in the provision of educational services.

13. Greater emphasis will be put on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Science and Technology.

14. Special Needs Education will be improved at all levels.

The Ghana Education Reform was eventually implemented on 11th September, 2007. Currently the reform is being revised by a committee set up by the ruling NDC government.