User-fees, capitation grant, and the quest for Free Universal Quality Basic Education in Ghana: an impact study of government's intervention in the financing of basic education in 15 districts

This paper is an impact study of Government of Ghana's intervention in the financing of basic education in 15 districts. The theoretical part of the paper establishes the fact that previous attempts at implementing free Universal Basic Education from 1960 to date have been fraught with challenges that have to do with enforcement of the compulsory dimension of the policy and the role of parents in the process, and also with attempts at reaching a common understanding of the interpretation of how free ‘free’ is or should be.

The authors acknowledge that some progress has been made over the years, learning from the limitations of previous attempts and building on their achievements. It discusses the enrolment situation, attendance, cost of education, infrastructure, teachers, teaching material, the capitation grant and other important issues related to universal education in Ghana.

The report makes the following recommendations for the consideration of the education authorities and the Government of Ghana:

• the government is urged to institute a panel to investigate the actual cost of basic education to parents
• budgetary allocation to basic education must be increased over a realistic time frame to renovate, expand, and build new schools and classrooms to accommodate the increases in enrolment, especially in deprived communities
• the knowledge and skills of lay teachers need to be upgraded, especially in deprived communities through the provision of well-structured in-service training
• the remuneration of teachers must be enhanced to make them attractive enough to retain teachers in the field
• the levels of enrolment increases must be reviewed year on year and adequate provision made for desks and textbooks to ease the existing pressure on these facilities
• poor and needy families should be identified through means-testing, and supported through micro-credit schemes to enhance their livelihood incomes.