By Albert Futukpor
Tamale, June 08, GNA – Madam Wedad Sayibu, Director of School for Life has blamed poor funding of the basic education sector for the high levels of infrastructure deficits at the basic education level in the country.
She said, “The lack of chairs and desks is as result of poor funding of basic education infrastructure, which is conspicuously evident in the construction of classrooms blocks without adequate supply of furniture or the absence of classroom blocks and furniture in some communities.”
She said between 2014 and 2020, the share of the education sector discretionary expenditure to basic education declined from 19.2 per cent to 10.9%.
“There is evidence of steady decline in funding for education by the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) with only 16 per cent of GETFund’s infrastructure expenditure budget allocated to basic education in 2022, with secondary education receiving about 44 per cent.”
She was addressing a stakeholders’ convening on the state of public basic education in the country in Tamale.
It was organised by School for Life, an NGO, and its consortium partners on the theme: “Bridging the Access and Quality Gap in Public Basic Education: The Effects of Infrastructure Deficits and Policy Implication “.
It was attended by stakeholders in education drawn from national, regional and district levels to reflect on the state of public basic education in the country, especially as it related to quality and equity with particular focus on infrastructure deficits, resource allocation and education financing.
It is estimated that there are 5,000 schools under trees in the country.
Statistics from the Ministry of Education showed that with respect to desk deficits alone, by the year 2021, about 596,000 kindergarten (KG) pupils representing half of the national KG population and 1.28 million pupils in primary schools lacked desks in schools.
It showed that 425,000 pupils representing 30% of JHS students were without writing spaces, bringing the total number of public basic school pupils without desks to about 2.3 million.
The desk situation is worse at the primary level in the most underserved regions such as Northern, North East, Savannah, Upper East, Upper West, Bono East and Oti Regions.
In terms of actual numbers, the Northern Region leads with 213,252 public primary school pupils without desks followed by Upper East (118,340) and Bono East (86,074).
There is also a high pupil to classroom ratio, implying inadequate classrooms for the pupils resulting in congestion and classes under trees.
Madam Sayibu said, “in the last couple of years, School for Life and our Consortium, Ghana Developing Communities Association, and YEFL-Ghana and other strategic partners, can further attest to evidence of these critical challenges that confront the targets set out in the 12-year Education Sector Strategic Plan.”
She added that “Under our Citizen-Led Action for Educational Accountability and Responsiveness in Ghana Project, and the Empowerment for Life Programme, we encountered compelling traces of inadequate or poor basic infrastructure, teacher availability gaps, and furniture deficits as challenges preventing thousands of children from going to school and learning.
She expressed the hope that the stakeholders convening would engender positive dialogue and inspire critical reflections that would facilitate a more concrete course of action to promote equitable quality education delivery in the country.
Mr Kofi Asare, Executive Director of Africa Education Watch, called on the government to uncap the GETFund to ensure more resources towards addressing infrastructure deficits in the basic education sector.
Hajia Katumi Natogmah Atta, Northern Regional Director of Education, who represented the Director-General of Ghana Education Service (GES), said the GES would continue to work with all relevant stakeholders to mobilise the needed resources for infrastructure development.
Mr Yidana Zakaria, North East Regional Minister, who read a speech on behalf of the Northern Regional Minister, said Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies had been implored to review their strategies on infrastructure at basic schools to help ameliorate the situation.
GNA