Executive Director of the Africa Education Watch, Kofi Asare, has disclosed that only 3 out of 10 children are able to complete their basic education and get access to secondary education in rural areas.
He says these are children who come from six(6) out of the 16 regions which are considered less endowed regions.
Although children from the 10 well-endowed regions also dropout from school, the situation is worse in the rural areas that fall under the six less endowed regions.
Mr. Asare, who was speaking at a Media General-Star Ghana Foundation policy dialogue on the theme; Towards Transformative Basic Education Outcomes: Progress, Problems and Prospects, he noted that these children who drop out do not get access to the government’s Free Senior High School Programme which is being enjoyed by other students.
“The greatest problem in our education system is that, only 3 out 10 children are able to complete school from the six less endowed regions,” he noted.
He attributed the dropout to the distance between where the pupils live and the schools, especially in the rural areas.
The Africa Education Watch boss indicated that some of the students have had to walk for kilometres in order to reach their schools, saying it is a disincentive for them to continue.
Furthermore, he said, the lack of junior high schools in most rural areas is a factor causing the dropout.
Mr. Asare also cited the disparity in teacher deployment, noting that the unavailability of teachers in rural areas is causing the dropout.
