Unfortunate reasons why public basic education is suffering in Ghana
The unfortunate state of basic education is caused mainly by the neglect of the government. The reasons why education at the basic level is suffering in Ghana raise a lot of questions.
Currently, every effort by the government towards education is concentrated on secondary education as though basic education is not important.
The quality of infrastructure (school buildings, supply of desk, books, and teachers among others) remain low compared to secondary education. How many secondary schools are under tress in Ghana today? How many secondary schools do not have IT labs compared to public basic schools? Your guess is as good as being the reality on the ground.
Action Aid Ghana in their policy brief on financing education in Ghana found out that privatization of education and the dominance of private schools at the pre-tertiary level has been boosted by the low financing of basic education in the country, which makes private schools more attractive to parents.
Public basic education is suffering in Ghana, but the government continues to paint a fake picture as though all is well.
The policy brief titled “How progressive Taxation can increase government’s spending on public basic schools and reverse education privatization” by Action Aid Ghana is an eye-opening report pregnant with reality.
The 2019 report by Action Aid Ghana revealed the education sector in every nation is the foundation of human development, productivity, and economic transformation.
The Ghana Education Strategic Plan (ESP) 2018 to 2030 and the education sector medium-term development plan 2018 to 2021 spell out the strategies of the government for the education sector over a period of 12 years.
The objectives of the ESP include improving equitable access and participation in quality education at all levels; bridging the gender gap in access to education; improving the quality of teaching and learning; promoting science and technical education at all levels; and improving the management of education.
According to the findings of Action Aid Ghana in its 2019 report on education financing in Ghana, while public basic schools nationwide increased by 22.7% between 2001 and 2018, private business schools increased by 222% during the same period. This means each time government constructs one school, 10 private schools are birthed in Ghana.
The period further showed enrolment levels increased by 9.4% in private basic schools, whiles that of was just 3.8% between 2001 and 2015. Thus, for every newly admitted learner in a public school, a private school admits three new learners at the primary level.
Unfortunate reasons why public basic education is suffering in Ghana
The reasons for the increase in private schools and enrolment in such schools can be attributed to three important factors according to Action Aid Ghana.
These are
1. Insufficient supply of public school spaces (Fewer public schools)
2. Low quality of public schooling
3. Public education system that fails to meet the diverse differentiated needs of families
The government’s failure to invest in public basic schools is an open secrete. Many public basic school infrastructures (school buildings) are not attractive compared to private schools.
The school environments of most public schools are not attractive enough compared to private schools yet, the National Schools Inspectorate Authority (NaSIA) seems to be more concerned about private schools obeying policy rules.
The laws they apply to private schools do not apply to public schools and this practice goes against total quality best practices.
The above have all been attributed to the little to no allocation of financial resources towards improving basic education development and the overspending on secondary education to the extent that the government has overburdened itself since 2017 with the decision to include boarding school, feeding of students, supply of uniforms and all other needs of Free SHS students leaving no resources left for the improvement in public basic school education. The reality is that even the most worthy nations do not finance free public boarding education at the secondary level.
#1. The effect of this decision by a struggling nation like Ghana is that there are still many schools under trees and at the basic level.
#2. Basic schools do not have textbooks since the new curriculum was introduced in 2019 among others.
#3. Clearly, the government is more interested in wasteful spending and avoidable expenditure on secondary education than investing in the foundation of education in the country.
#4. The Free SHS has become a non-touchable political promise that must e fulfilled at all cost, hence the low investment of government in basic education.
Today, basic education which is supposed to be free is not free according to Africa Education Watch boss Kofi Asare.
His position on the matter has been confirmed by the report by Action Aid Ghana which revealed that in Ga South Municipality, for instance, most parents could not afford private basic schools however in public schools within the same municipality; children have to pay exam fees, uniform fees, PTA dues among others. We are where we are because the government has failed to finance basic education and all related cost it promised the people of Ghana.
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The above show clearly why public basic education is suffering in Ghana.
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