The Institute For Energy Research and Policies (INSTEPR) has urged the government to fix the challenges confronting Public Basic Education in the country.
According to INSTEPR, the UNICEF data sheet on Ghana through the MISC-Education Analysis for Global Learning and Equity initiative places Ghana’s Public Basic in a bad light.
“The 2021 data sheet is very disturbing: For Grade 3 (8 -9 years), Reading Skills is 7% and Numeracy skills is 8% for children attending government schools. Simple English, only 7% of all children between age 8 and 9 attending government school in Ghana can read. This reduces to 4% for Grade 2. This data sheet also highlights the disparity between education in rural and urban Ghana,” the Executive Director for INSTEPR, Kwadwo N. Poku disclosed.
He continued “As a country we cannot continue ignoring basic education and most importantly neglecting basic school infrastructure at the rural level. Free education is a wonderful policy and we Ghanaians are blessed to have it but what is the quality of the education which is free?
“Students are struggling to comprehend secondary school education especially now that it is less than 3 years. There is a vast disadvantage for government school students because their private school counterparts have a very good basic education,” he added.
The Executive Director further stated that though there might be challenges with the government getting resources to fix the challenges it is not an excuse to leave public basic education in its current state.
“We all know that the government has limited resources but that does not excuse anyone not to make a systematic effort to bring back quality of education to government schools. Invest in the infrastructure and teachers as well as supervision.
“Parents of all walks of life can take their kids to government primary school to reduce the financial burden on these parents. The current situation is unacceptable and INSTEPR is calling on government to act now,” he added.
