Ghana’s re-imaging of the education system for economic transformation has been reassuring, with the pragmatic reforms and policies being introduced as such.
The most recent approach in that regard is the inclusion of the “learning of Social Security in the curriculum of schools to make students well-informed as to the significance of the scheme.
Before the formulation of the National Pension Act, 2008 (Act 766), which was fully implemented in 2010, the idea and recommendation for the Ministry of Education to liaise with the appropriate stakeholders to include Social Security in the student’s curriculum was already established. All that was needed was its materialization, but couldn’t happen for that long period.
On Tuesday, 15th March 2022, the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), in collaboration with the Ghana Education Service (GES), launched the supplementary Readers on Social Security for Schools. The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) has in that regard produced Teachers’ Manuals on Social Security for students and Teachers in Junior and Senior High Schools.
Social Security is a public measure or an insurance programme to provide income protection for its members in the event of certain occurrences such as Old Age, Invalidity, sickness, or death of a breadwinner. It is of no doubt to be the most significant social policy achievement in the 20th Century. Nonetheless, enhancement and extension of the programme have and will remain a major challenge for decades to come.
As defined by the International Social Security Association as a mandatory arrangement that provides individuals with a degree of income security when faced with certain contingencies, it somehow somewhat inadvertently becomes a basic requirement for every citizen. However, the legislative disposition of the policy has its specifics and exclusiveness, with a focus on the public/formal sector of the working force.
With a careful analysis, it can arrive that the need to extend and intensify the understanding of the scheme has become indispensable. Albeit, citizens who will be absorbed into the formal sector will undoubtedly be enrolled in this scheme, but that contravenes the clear purpose of the scheme which is for all citizens.
The statistics published by statista.com on the distribution of employment in Ghana as of 2019 show that 29.75% of the employees in Ghana were active in the agricultural sector, 21.05% in the industry, and 49.21% in the service sector. Ghana has a total population of over 30 million according to the 2020 census, with the labour force estimated at around 13,364,617 by the World Bank. One staggering revelation is that the informal sector, which doesn’t fully involve people in the scheme contributes “80%” of the Ghanaian workforce.
The least said, considering the industrialisation drive of this country with regard to the educational reforms which purports to empower youth to be innovative and self-reliant in the labour market, it should be prudent to inculcate the preeminence of Social Security into their educational curriculum to ensure full participation of the informal sector. With the report from the Social Security and National Insurance Trust Fund, most of its members are of the formal/Public sector with regard to the Tier 3 of the scheme. The law which mandates the informal/private sector to actively ensure that its members are rolled onto the scheme is less recognised. Aside from that, the people who are within the sector have less knowledge as to why they should be members of the scheme, therefore, giving no credence to it.
This has become a somewhat major challenge for the scheme and the government as such. The basic right of every citizen, which is to have an education to the Secondary level (Free SHS) establishes the point that the Ghanaian population can be well-informed as to the importance of social security even before they are fully absorbed into any sector. If the eligible age starts from 15 years, which per our education system the individual should have the basic education knowledge, even if in an unfortunate situation he/she fails to continue, the individual should have a certain level of knowledge about social security at that time to enable him to appreciate it since he might end up in the informal sector.
In like manner, individuals who can successfully pass through the levels of education even stand the vulnerability of job security in the public sector. And with the STEM education agenda of the Ministry, more graduates are even more likely to work in the private sector than in the public sector. And with the private sector, if one does not fully comprehend the need for Social Security, it will be very hard for the person to consider being a member in that regard. It can’t be argued that even with those in the public sector who are automatically recognised as members, with them having no option, most of them have little idea as to why they are members of Social Security and National Trust Fund (SSNIT).
In this regard, it could be said that the fundamental comprehension of Social Security at the tender age is eluding, which somehow contributes to the low level of members subscribed to the SSNIT Policy. Records have it that, out of over 11 million fully eligible people, only a little over 2 million are members of SSNIT, leaving a huge gap to be filled.
Generally, learning about Social Security is highly essential to everyone and, most importantly, young ones. This will abreast them on the value of saving and planning for the future. It will make them realise that Social Security is more than retirement or an old-age program.
If so, then the idea of government developing an educational technique to conscientize citizens at the primer age becomes an imperative duty to execute. Arguably, the inclusion of Social Security in the curriculum of students at the basic and secondary level stands out as a conclusive way to ensure the full participation of people in the Scheme. It is easy for one to appreciate something if he has a fair idea about the thing.
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The author, Yaw Opoku Mensah, is a deputy PRO of the Ministry of Education