The Coalition of Concerned Teachers, Ghana (CCT-GH) has lamented the too much attention being given to senior high schools at the expense of basic education in the country.
The Coalition says if one-fifth of the attention being given to secondary education was replicated at the basic level, “it would be a different story.”
President of the Coalition, King Ali Awudu, has noted that the decision by governments to channel all their attention towards a specific segment in the education sector is really problematic.
Speaking on Hot Issues with Keminni Amanor on TV3 Sunday, April 07, 2024, he pointed out that the manner with which GHC10.00 capitation grant per student per annum is dispensed, justifies their lamentation that basic education has been relegated to the background.
“One biggest challenge we have in this country is when the politician targets a particular segment and tries to channel all the resources to that segment. This government was key and is still key on senior high schools.
“So right from January 2017 till date, the resources and the money that has been pumped into senior high school education, if 20% of that had been pumped into our basic education, it would be a different story. So as we speak, not so much attention is being paid to the basic schools. Even capitation grant which is GHC10.00 per child per annum is not being paid. It’s always in arrears,” he disclosed.
Mr. Ali Awudu continued that, “the basis schools are not supposed to pay fees, it’s Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE). However, the resource that the state is supposed to give to these basic schools for them to run doesn’t go on time and sometimes it doesn’t go at all.”
The capitation grant, he explained, is “the money the headteacher is supposed to use to run the school” adding that “unfortunately, this money, as small as it is, does not even come on time and it is always in arrears.”
Gyampo provides condition under which labour unions would grant Mahama’s ‘honeymoon’ request
