Annual report on the Gold Coast / Colonial Office.

  • Great Britain. Colonial Office.
Date:
[1951]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report on the Gold Coast / Colonial Office. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    35/130 (page 33)
    as soon as possible a basic six-year primary course (formerly the infant-junior course) for all children, largely at public expense, to be followed by a four-year course of middle-school education (formerly the senior-primary course) for the majority of children, for which fees are still to be charged. A rapid, wide expansion of secondary educa¬ tion is planned and has already begun, but necessarily, in view of the introduction of universal free primary education, perhaps the most outstanding feature of the Accelerated Plan will be the extension as rapidly as possible of the output of trained teachers, coupled with the in-service training of pupil teachers. The various types of schools—Government, Mission and Church, and Native Authority—are subject to the general control of the Government in accordance with the provisions of two Education Ordinances—one for the Colony and Ashanti and the other for the Northern Territories. However, provision has been made for the establishment of Local Authorities to which will be delegated much of the responsibility for the organisation of primary and middle education. The Education Department is advised on matters of policy and admin¬ istration affecting the Colony and Ashanti by the Central Advisory Committee on Education and on local matters by the District Educa¬ tion Committees. The Northern Territories Board of Education advises the Director of Education on educational policy in the Northern Territories. Education Finance The funds placed at the disposal of the Education Department have been spent on the general administration of the educational system and the maintenance of a number of Government primary, including senior-primary, post-primary teacher-training and technical and trade- training institutions. Substantial grants-in-aid are paid to Missions, Churches and Native Authorities for the upkeep of primary and senior primary schools, and almost the entire cost of non-Government teacher-training colleges and secondary schools is met by the Education Department. The full cost of buildings for post-primary institutions falls upon the Education Department’s votes. Examples of other duties of the Department are the examination of vernacular literature and the selection of candidates for scholarships. The “recurrent” expenditure of the Department for the financial year 1950-51 (exclud¬ ing expenditure on the institutions at Achimota) was £1,065,868, the extraordinary expenditure was £167,025, and £346,023 was spent from Development funds making a gross expenditure of £1,578,916. Primary Education* The medium of instruction for the six-year basic course is the vernacular but all pupils receive a grounding in English sufficient to enable instruction to be given in that language in their further educa¬ tion or, in the case of those who leave school, to enable them to con¬ tinue their interest in English reading. * Basic Infant—Junior : 6 years ; Senior—Primary (Middle) : 4 years.