Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch) has urged the Haruna Iddrisu, Minister of Education, to ensure that basic schools are timeously funded to administer their final exams without any financial difficulties faced by poor parents.
Additionally, it urged the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES) to ensure that no pupil was excluded from exercising the right to partake in the upcoming end-of-term assessment as a result of the inability of their parents to pay fees.
The think thank recommended the Director-General of the GES to implement remedial measures on school heads who approved the removal of any student from the upcoming end of-term assessments as a result of non-payment of fees.
A statement released in Accra in anticipation of the end-of-term examination said that the right to basic education was vital and unconditional, emphasizing that it’s direct funding needs to remain a mandatory provision and responsibility of the state.
“Public Basic Schools’ term assessments started yesterday, Monday, April 7, 2025. Some school heads are demanding parents pay examination or printing fees, threatening to exclude pupils whose parents do not adhere to.”
“In addition to the support from Eduwatch parental contributions towards school development and learning, it is essential that this remains strictly voluntary, in accordance with the policies and laws governing the delivery of free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (fCUBE),” as it highlighted.
Notably, as stated Section 2(b) of the Pre-Tertiary Education Act of 2020 (Act 1049) emphasized that, “basic education is going to be free, compulsory, and universal,” with Section Three subject to condition that no child shall be exempted on grounds of economic challenge.
As an institution devoted to equity, Eduwatch, declared that, strongly against any practices that exempt children from complete involvement in their right to basic education, including exemption from school-administered test as as a result to demographic and economic factors.
Eduwatch made it clear that “Although it is well-known that these funds have not been timeously available for years, continually supervising the imposition of fees on parents to atone for systemic funding deficits is not a sustainable way to effectively implement a government policy.”