The Education Manifesto Chair for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Dr. Prince Hamid Armah, has announced the NPP will enforce mandatory school enrollment for all children at the age of four.
This initiative is part of the NPP’s broader strategy to ensure a strong educational foundation for young learners.
While Ghana’s Constitution mandates compulsory education, it currently lacks enforcement mechanisms for non-compliance and to address this issue, Dr. Armah proposed leveraging data from the National Identification Authority (NIA) and the Birth and Death Registry to monitor and ensure that children are enrolled in school as they reach the required age.
“We have developed a system to make education truly compulsory by ensuring children attend school. The NIA assigns identification numbers to babies, and the Birth and Death Registry operates at the district level.”
“With this data, District Education oversight committees, in collaboration with Assembly members, can identify children turning four and enforce compulsory enrollment. Although the current Pre-Tertiary Education Act doesn’t criminalize non-enrollment, we are working towards changing that,” he added.
Dr. Armah also highlighted the NPP’s commitment, under the leadership of Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, to enhancing kindergarten (KG) education nationwide. The party plans to build ultra-modern KG facilities in areas that currently lack them, recognizing the importance of early childhood education in shaping future learning outcomes.
“Our aim is to upgrade existing KG blocks with modern equipment and construct new ones in underserved areas at an affordable cost. I believe that with around five hundred thousand Ghana cedis, we can build a quality KG. We are dedicated to improving KGs because they are the foundation of all further learning,” Dr. Armah stated.
