In light of the increasing number of schools operating under trees and in dilapidated buildings, the Ministry of Education has been urged to give basic education infrastructure priority in the 2023 GETFund formula in order to make sure that at least a third of GETFund's discretionary expenditures benefit from the infrastructure.
Spending effectiveness and inclusive governance should be given top priority by the Ministry.
These were among the suggestions in the Africa Education Watch report on the analysis of the 2023 education budget. The report also urged the Ministry to formalize the already-existing opportunities for parental contribution to basic and secondary education financing by adopting an equitable and inclusive education financing framework.
According to the report, Ghana failed to meet the international financing benchmark in education for the first time in about two decades, with as little as 12 point 97 percent of the government's expenditure going toward education, despite President Akuffo Addo's appointment as the Global Partnership for Education, GPE champion to promote the Heads of State declaration of committing at least 15-20 percent of Government spending on education.
The Education Strategic Plan (2018-2030)'s key objectives will be negatively impacted by this, according to the report. According to the article, there are sizable disparities in the amount of money spent on education at the various levels, with secondary education receiving more funding than the other levels.
This is demonstrated by how much of the government's discretionary budget from Goods and Services and CAPEX is allocated to secondary education as opposed to basic education, special and inclusive education, and the other sub-sectors.
It went on to say that basic education, special education, and tertiary education all saw significant reductions in their Goods and Services budgets, with basic education and special education seeing a decline in allocation of about 40% compared to 2022, with the exception of free SHS/TVET which received an increase of about 30%.
This limits the government's ability to clear the over 5,000 schools hidden by trees, sheds, and decaying buildings and to provide desks for the 40% of students in basic schools who do not have them.