It may take 45 years to provide access infrastructure to out of school children in Ghana; 2023 Budget Statement: Matters arising for education.
It may take 45 years to provide access infrastructure to out of school children in Ghana; 2023 Budget Statement: Matters arising for education.
2023 Budget Statement: Matters arising for education.
One million Ghanaian children have never set foot in basic school, mainly because there are no public basic schools to provide free basic education in many communities.
The solution is not far fetched; build more public basic schools in underserved communities.
Statistically, we need 1,800 schools to accommodate the 1 million out of school children yet to taste an education.
Paragraph 762 of the 2023 Budget Statement among others reads, ..’the Ministry completed and handed over 40 basic school infrastructural projects in 2022.
Ghana has 216 districts. This means an average of 0.2 schools per district, per year.
Going by the Finance Ministers own data, even if we hold the out of school children population constant, it may take 45 years to provide access infrastructure to the 1 million children.
…and this even excludes the burden of renovating or building school infrastructure to replace the existing 5,000 plus schools taking place under trees, sheds etc.
I pray the data is inaccurate, else, this is not a great story. We must up our game in 2023 via GEFFund.
Team Eduwatch will release a preliminary response to the 2023 education budget on Monday.
By Kofi Asare of Eduwatch
