By Jesse Ampah Owusu
Accra, Aug. 30, GNA – Mr Divine Kpe, Senior Programmes Officer, Eduwatch Africa, has urged the Government to commit at least 50 per cent of education expenditure to basic education, with 20 per cent of the allocation on capital expenditure.
He said that would help reduce the infrastructure gap, enhance access and reduce dropout rates in primary education.
Mr Kpe made the suggestion during a presentation on Education Financing in Ghana from 2017 to 2024 and the launch of an Education Financing Tracker by Eduwatch Africa with support from ActionAid Ghana and OXFAM.
The Education Financing Tracker assesses education budgeting and expenditure performance under the Akufo-Addo administration from 2017 to 2024.
It highlights key priorities, dimensions, trends, gaps, challenges and implications for achieving education Sustainable Development Goals in Ghana, especially in basic education and TVET, as well as makes room for recommendations to ensure equitable education spending by the next government
Mr Kpe said from the study, they observed that a huge chunk of Government education expenditure went into Senior High School (SHS) education, particularly in the rollout of the Free SHS programme, to the detriment of basic education.
“When you look at the goods and service budgets line of the education sector you will realise that on average about 90 percent of that is going to SHS projects or programmes of which 70 percent of that are going to support feeding in the SHS and the sustenance of the entire Free SHS policy.
“This means resources will move from a sub-sector to support the implementation of the policy. We believe this is not sustainable because you can’t sacrifice other sub-sectors to keep your flagship programme going. There’s a need to pay attention also to the other sub-sectors,” he said.
Mr Kpe said he supported calls for a review of the Free SHS Policy, one that targeted students that actually needed the financial support instead of a wholesale rollout of the programme to include all students.
He also called on the Government to upscale and sustain education spending to six per cent of GDP and at least 20 per cent of total government expenditure.
Mr Kpe urged the Government to increase investment in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) to five per cent of national education budget.
He said that should be done with a focus on upgrading facilities and ensuring regular availability of funds for procuring consumables for practical work.
“The costing of TVET under the free SHS programme must be reviewed to mirror the actual cost of implementing Competency Based Training programmes in the non-state sector. Cost of practical work must be increased from the current GHC 45 to at least GHC 100 per student for the academic year with timely releases,” he added.
GNA