The Director-General of the Institute for Educational Planning and Administration (IEPA), University of Cape Coast (UCC), Dr. Michael Boakye-Yiadom, has been appointed by the President of the Republic of Ghana as the “National Convenor” for the 2022 United Nations/UNESCO Transforming Education Summit (TES). His appointment was contained in a letter to the Hon. Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, dated 8th June 2022. 

Dr. Boakye-Yiadom is expected to support the Ministry of Education to provide leadership for a successful planning and implementation of the Transforming Education Summit’s (TES) Pre-Summit in Paris in June and the Main Summit in September in New York City.

Ghana’s National Convenor to the United Nations/UNESCO Transforming Education Summit (TES) is responsible for conceptualizing, planning, organizing, executing, monitoring, preparing and presenting the final outputs of national consultation(s). The Convenor is also encouraged to establish a support team – or make use of existing structures – who will be responsible for managing the design, planning, organization, and monitoring of one or more consultations at the national and/or sub-national levels.

Dr. Boakye-Yiadom had this to say when congratulations reeled in: “I see this as an IEPA appointment and I am humbled by the President’s and the Minister for Education’s confidence in my leadership. As a team, we will deliver as expected. I count on the support of all stakeholders, especially staff at the Ministry of Education, development partners, civil society, the private sector and NGOs. I am excited about our collective enthusiasm and commitment to make Ghana proud”.

The Transforming Education Summit aims to accelerate progress towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 4 and forge a common vision for education, building on the forthcoming work of the International Commission on the Futures of Education. The Summit will bring together Member-States, teachers, the academia, NGOs, and the private sector with the firm objective to include the youth as co-creators of the Summit. The TES expects commitments of the government of Ghana to implement concrete initiatives at country levels as the Summit seeks to employ three primary intersecting and reinforcing workstreams for advancing preparations: (1) National Consultations, (2) Thematic Action Tracks, (3) Public engagement and Mobilization.

Not too long ago, the IEPA was appointed by the Ministry of Education to coordinate the reporting of SDG4 activities in Ghana geared towards tracking the achievement of targets and indicators.  The appointment of the Director-General of IEPA as  Ghana’s National Convenor for the Transforming Education Summit confirms the key role IEPA is playing as a UNESCO Category II Centre of Excellence.