Education campaigners under the umbrella name #EduSpikeGh are worried over what they believe is the worsening educational standards in Ghana’s public education system.
The organization made up of educational think tanks says the lack of investments in the public basic school architecture coupled with the proliferation of substandard private schools continues to have a negative toll on teaching and learning outcomes in the country.
The situation, they say, is rather fostering the growth of private school education, leaving their colleagues in public schools to lag behind in attaining any proper form of quality education.
Naa Dedei Botchway, Campaign Ambassador for #EduSpikeGh, describes as “so unattractive to the Ghanian”, the type of public education being offered in such schools.
“We want the government to increase expenditure in public basic education so that, private schools do not have the upper hand but rather public schools take the lead for the private schools to follow. Private schools are springing up, and it is leading to low-quality basic schools “, she said on Breakfast Daily on Citi TV.
#EduSpikeGh has disclosed that 30 pupils drop out of school every day in Ghana due to low investment in public education.
It added that basic education’s share of the education expenditure dropped from 55 percent in 2008 to 37percent in 2018.
The campaigners assert that Ghana cannot reduce school drop-outs with declining investments.
“Increase expenditure in public basic education and address some of the major issues that are making public education so unattractive and the lack of quality at the private,” Naa Dedei Botchway suggested to the government.
About Eduspike campaign
The Education Spike Campaign, which is spearheaded by Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch) in partnership with the Coalition Against Privatization and Commercialization of Education (CAPCOE) with the support of OXFAM International, seeks to improve the quality of public basic education.
It identifies the increasing number of schools under trees and sheds, declining budgetary allocation for basic education, the lack of JHS in 26% of Basic Schools, and the poor quality of learning outcomes as the main drivers behind the demand for private basic education.
The campaigners thus recommend among others the need for government to increase investment in public basic education to 50% of the education sector expenditure, secure reliable funding to construct the 5,403 schools under trees within the projected five-year period, construct a net of 1,000 JHS each year to eliminate primary schools without JHS by 2025 and review the current capping of the GETFund to free funds for basic education infrastructure.