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Status of Education in Ghana 1

The document discusses the status of education in Ghana. It notes that Ghana has made great strides in improving access to primary education through initiatives like making school fees free, with the government now spending over 10% of its GDP and 31% of its budget on education. However, it also points out issues with teacher quality - many teachers are underqualified and undertrained, and not providing high quality education, which does not fully achieve the UN's goal of fostering global citizenship. While access has improved, the quality of education needs to be better managed to protect Ghana's education budget and allow students to gain globally recognized qualifications.

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50 views

Status of Education in Ghana 1

The document discusses the status of education in Ghana. It notes that Ghana has made great strides in improving access to primary education through initiatives like making school fees free, with the government now spending over 10% of its GDP and 31% of its budget on education. However, it also points out issues with teacher quality - many teachers are underqualified and undertrained, and not providing high quality education, which does not fully achieve the UN's goal of fostering global citizenship. While access has improved, the quality of education needs to be better managed to protect Ghana's education budget and allow students to gain globally recognized qualifications.

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Status of Education in Ghana

Status of Education in Ghana


Khalifah Bouroslei
Arizona State University

Status of Education in Ghana

Status of Education in Ghana


The United Nations developed millennium development goals, which
were a set of initiatives to improve global social structures based on
humanitarian needs. One of these initiatives was to achieve universal
primary education. The reason for this initiative is due to the unequal
balances of education globally; some have access to education but
many do not. Ghana in particular was a target of this list as they were
a part of the developing world. Even though Ghana is greatly
developed the country still has great strides to make, especially in
the realm of education.

In the United States, we pride ourselves on our education system, and


although we have a great deal of opportunities, there are countries in
far greater need than us at home. The [United Nations] Initiative's
main priorities are to expand access to education, improve the quality
of learning, and foster global citizenship. (Priorities). In the United
states, we take fundamental public education for granted; and for the
most part it is a good education. In Ghana, 10 years ago, a child could
not attend school without paying for the uniform to attend, paying for
paper, pencils, chalk, renting a desk, a chair to sit in, and paying for
school fees. This used to eat up the pockets of Ghanaians, but because
of the Universal Education Initiative, it has been made a public
initiative to make school fees such as a chair and desk free and

Status of Education in Ghana

mandatory for primary schools. Fees were abolished in public schools


seven years ago when the government introduced yearly grants of
about $2.50 for each pupil. (Mantey). Below is a photo of Phoenix
Primary school. This school was founded by a woman who used to live
in Phoenix and repatriated to her home country of Ghana to invest in
local education. Before the global initiative for Education, this school
rented desks to its pupils
Ghana passed this desk
law along with an annual
budget to fund
supplies and school
uniforms for primary
education students.
Today, Ghana
spends over 10
percent of its gross domestic product and 31 percent of its budget on
education. (Mantey). This is a huge investment into the future of the
country, but Ghana and it would not have been possible without the
help of the United Nations. However, Ghana is still lacking in focus on
educators.

With the increase in government support for primary education,


officials need to look further up the ladder to the educators. Where it

Status of Education in Ghana

is great that education is free and accessible to many including girls


who previously did not have the same opportunities as boys, there is a
need to educate the educators. Ghana has an overabundance of
educators, but these educators are under qualified and lack proper
training to run a classroom successfully. Many teachers prefer to stay
in urban areas, depriving
children in rural areas of the
right to an education. In
comparison, he says that
three years ago, it was
reported that over 550
teachers in and around the capital Accra were underemployed due to
the excess number of instructors. (Mantey). The teachers that are in
classrooms however, are not providing the best education possible for
the governments budget, and it does not fall in line with the Millenium
development goals, as any undertrained instructor can teach whatever
he or she wants without any overhead which can be dangerous as it
does not fall in line with fostering global citizenship to all children. To
the left is a picture of an instructor with a fake teaching certificate
taken from an exposure program from the Ghanaian Bureau of National
Investigations (Ghana).

Status of Education in Ghana


On the one hand, there is a great deal being done about making
education accessible to all, but what is that education really worth if it
cannot get you into a globally recognized institution? The education
infrastructure needs to be managed better in order to protect that
budget that is dedicated to public education.

Status of Education in Ghana

6
Works Cited

Priorities. (n.d.). Retrieved April 06, 2016, from


http://www.globaleducationfirst.org/priorities.html
Mantey, J. (2012, February 16). Ghana Lauded for Free Primary School
Program. Retrieved April 06, 2016, from
http://www.voanews.com/content/ghana-lauded-for-free-primaryschool-program-139525918/159622.html
Ghana BNI picks up over 400 'fake teachers' (n.d.). Retrieved April 06,
2016, from http://ghanasky.com/ghana-bni-picks-up-over-400-faketeachers/

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