Access to basic education in Ghana: the evidence and the issues

This report synthesises analysis of evidence on access to basic education in Ghana and uses this as a basis for outlining areas that need further research. Written as a critical analytic review it provides a background of shared knowledge, understandings and research evidence about access to basic education in Ghana. The review starts by assessing the impact past and present policies on basic education have made on expanding access and conclude with a number of recommendations for further research on access as well as issues for policy reformulation.

The authors investigate the evolution of access to basic education in Ghana and analyse basic education policies and practices for insight into the effect they have had on access to basic education. The paper examines the conditions and factors that underpin access as both a process and outcome from which it develops preliminary understandings of the nature of exclusion from meaningful access. A review is then given of recent empirical and secondary analysis studies on access to basic education and maps out what the key challenges are to expanding access, particularly for poor and marginalised groups in society.

The authors provide preliminary policy recommendations and identifies specific issues, themes, and agendas for further research in Ghana. These include:

• it is important to look beyond national/regional gross and net enrolment data for better understanding of the factors that might be undermining meaningful access
• it is vital to ensure that children start school at the appropriate age, especially in the first grade. There is a high risk of older children dropping out as they are pulled away into the informal labour market especially in contexts where poverty is high
• policies are needed to improve access are also insufficient to enroll the hard to reach children who are out of school for economic or cultural reasons
• what is required to sustain high enrolments is a mixture of policies targeted at specific issues or areas that are known to influence demand for education
• a range of interlocking supply and demand policy driven initiatives are needed to create meaningful access. For example, child health and nutrition are critical factors to access.