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The Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Dr Lazarus Dokora (third from left) with permanent secretary Sylvia Utete-Masango (second left), Malawi Education Minister Dr Bright Msaka (third right) and other delegates in Paris, France, yesterday

Andile Tshuma, Chronicle Reporter
THE 2017/18 Global Education Monitoring Report (GEM) Report has been launched at the Unesco General Conference in France.

Speaking in a telephone interview from the Unesco headquarters in Paris, France, the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Dr Lazarus Dokora, yesterday said the country’s education system had adopted the new education accountability policy which is part of the Sustainability Development Goals.

He said the move will improve the country’s education system and add value to the newly revised curriculum. “The thrust of the policy is to have a holistic approach to accountability in the education sector from the ministry to the school, the learner, the parent, the teacher and other stakeholders contributing to education,” said Dr Dokora.

He said the education accountability project would ensure that all school funds, either government or parents sourced, will be scrutinised under an audit system, which the Minister said will be mandatory with immediate effect.

“This new system will see everyone in the education sector being accountable and taking full responsibility of their role. Those that handle money will have to account for every dollar and be able to justify its use, and those responsible for the running of our institutions will also account for that, the state of the school against the available resources. Those responsible for the learner’s pass rates will also have to account for the grades at certain given times,” said the Minister.

“With time, as we adopt this holistic approach, our education system will greatly improve as it will encourage a culture of teamwork and understanding that each one of our roles should be performed to its best”.

Dr Dokora urged the public and those with interests in the education sector to embrace the news auditing system for accountability.

“I urge all stakeholders within the education sector to embrace this holistic function as consultations have been done at global level and it has been shown that it will produce results. We cannot attend to our problems without having an auditing system to detect them and deal with them in a timely manner,” he said.

The policy examines different accountability mechanisms that are used to hold governments, schools, teachers, parents, students, civil society, the international community and the private sector accountable for inclusive, equitable and quality education. By analysing which policies make accountability work or fail, and which external factors impact on their success, the 2017/8 GEM Report will conclude with concrete recommendations that will help build stronger education systems.

The conference ends on November 15 but the Minister said he will return on November 12 as he has other commitments in the country.

@andile_tshuma