The Executive Director of Africa Education Watch, Kofi Asare, has attributed the challenges faced at the basic education level to inadequate budget allocation and a disparity in resource distribution across different education tiers.
Speaking to the media, Mr. Asare commended the government for the positive strides made with the Free SHS initiative.
However, he expressed concern that an excessive focus on and disproportionate investment in higher education had led to neglect of the foundational level of education.
“If resources are deployed inequitably, you will have a situation where some part of the three segments of the system will be more developed than others. If you look at the pre-tertiary budget of the Ministry of Education, you realise that Basic education is taking about 4 percent and the remaining 96 percent is going to Senior High School and TVET. That 4% is the reason you’ll hear capitation grants not being released in two years among others.
“It has been declining from 2016 when we started investing in Senior High Schools which was 19% all the way to right now which is 4%.
“So far as we maintain the Free Senior High School programme in this way, that basic education share of the Ministry of Education budget will continue to decline… it’ll be the reason why we’ll not be seeing adequate textbooks,” the Africa Education Watch director explained.
He highlighted a decline in the budget allocation for basic education, which had decreased from 19% in 2016 (when investment in Senior High Schools began) to the current 4%.
Mr. Asare further explained, “As long as we continue with the Free Senior High School program in this manner, the allocation for basic education within the Ministry of Education’s budget will continue to dwindle. This will inevitably lead to insufficient provision of textbooks and other resources.”
He urged the government to reconsider its budget distribution across different education levels in order to reinforce the fundamental aspects of basic education.
The overarching theme of the National Education Dialogue is “Free SHS in Perspective: Problems, Progress, and Prospects.”