BETTER GHANA SERIES: UPDATE ON SOME GOVERNMENT PROGRAMMES IN THE EDUCATION SECTOR Background As enrolment and completion of basic education has increased in recent decades, the demand for places in Senior High Schools (SHSs) has risen and pressure is growing on the capacity of the existing institutions to meet the demand. This demand has been fuelled by increasing population coming out of poverty, completing universal Basic Education (UBE) and rural-urban migration from agriculture in search of wage employment. Whilst less than half a million students were enrolled in SHS in 2009, today more than 750,000 students are enrolled, which represents more than one third of the relevant age population. At the same time, there is significant social and geographical inequity in terms of successful completion of basic education and entry to SHS. Students coming from the poorest 20% of households, the most deprived districts and/or from rural areas are about 5 to 6 times less likely to access SHS programs. The main barriers to access are lacking physical access to SHS. Government’s strategy aims to rapidly expand access and quality making it gradually universal and also progressively free. An expansion of the SHS system was planned by the ESP (2010-2020) with strategies such as new school construction and efficiency savings through rationalization of boarding, teacher deployment and measures to share costs and engage the private sector. The sector has over achieved the targeted enrolment for SHS resulting in congestion at existing SHS. It is in the light of this that the Government intends to build 200 SHS facilities to augment the current facilities and ensure the feasibility of the gradual provision of free SHSs. Quality of SHS programs shows large disparities between the best 100 schools and the rest of the schools. The top schools produce the bulk of those entering tertiary education whereas for those enrolled in the majority of the schools, SHS represents the terminal form of education. In response to the challenges set out above and Government’s strategic objectives for second cycle education, the Government is embarking on a Secondary Education Improvement Project, supported by a $156 million credit from International Development Assistance. Project Development objective The Project Development Objective is to increase access to senior secondary education in underserved districts and improve quality in low-performing senior high schools in Ghana. Project Beneficiaries The project is expected to benefit approximately • 30,000 new students in secondary education programs, • 150,000 students in low performing schools, The project is expected to benefit approximately • 30,000 new students in secondary education programs, • 2000 senior high school teachers, head teachers, in addition to education officials Project components The Project would support the Government Community Day Senior High School program through two components: 1. Support to Increase Access with Equity and Quality in Senior High Schools 2. Management, Research and Monitoring and Evaluation. Targeting The project will apply transparent criteria for selection of beneficiary districts, existing schools and scholarship students to address some of the disparities in access and quality. Indicators including poverty level, unmet demand for SHS places and WASSCE results will be used. The transparent selection criteria will ensure efficient targeting of the project. Implementation The implementing agency will be the Ministry of Education (and its relevant Agencies) which will be responsible for the project’s coordination, procurement, contract management, financial management, and compliance with safeguards policies. The Secondary Education Improvement Project will be implemented over a five-year period. The project is expected to be effective from 1st October, 2014 and close on30th November, 2019. Disseminated by Anthony Obeng Afrane
Posted on: Mon, 07 Jul 2014 22:55:01 +0000
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