La voluntad y la determinación de actuar

Once the new structure was in place, sector policy was outlined in 1996 in the strategy doc- ument “Free Compulsory Universal Basic Edu- cation (FCUBE),” which stated the government’s commitment “to making schooling from Basic Stage 1 through 9 free and compulsory for all school-age children by the year 2005… [and] to improving the quality of the education services offered” (GoG [MoE], FCUBE, April 1996: 1). In principle, this statement did not signal any change in policy, but was one of the periodic attempts by government to abolish unsanctioned fees that proliferate at the local level.10

The significance of FCUBE was twofold: (1) it provided a basis for a coordinated sector pro- gram providing a framework for donor support to education; and (2) it laid out the institutional and other measures to support the nascent decentralization program, including increased community participation in school manage- ment.

FCUBE had three costed components: • Improving quality of teaching and learning,

consisting of (1) the review and revision of teaching materials in line with a revised, more focused, syllabus, (2) new measures on teacher incentives, including teacher prizes and teacher housing in rural areas, and (3) a shift to in-service teacher training using dis- tance learning materials.

• Strengthening management at both central and district level; and

C H A N G E S I N B A S I C E D U C AT I O N S I N C E T H E 1 9 8 0 S R e s t r u c t u r i n g o f e d u c a t i o n s y s t e m F i g u r e 2 . 1 86/87 87/88 88/89 89/90 90/91 91/92 92/93 93/94 94/95 Middle school Last cohort admitted Last cohort

graduate Middle schools closed

JSS JSS not yet begun Firs t cohort admitted First cohort take BE exam (end of year) SSS (old system) Last Form 1 cohort admitted Last cohort complete Form 5 Old system finished SSS (new

System) New SSS system not yet begun

First cohort admitted (Jan 1991) First cohort complete (Dec 1993)

• Improving access and participation, though, inter alia, facility construction and rehabil- itation and pilot scholarship schemes to encourage girls’ participation at primary level.

In addition to the above, measures were to be undertaken to ensure the financial sustainabil- ity of the education sector.

There has been progress regarding the first two elements of the first component, but the shift to in-service teacher training has not really taken off. The GSS/OED survey data show that less than 5 percent of basic school teachers receive such training on a regular basis. The largest changes have taken place with respect to decentralization. The Local Government Acts of 1988 and 1993 shifted responsibility for the administration of education to the districts, and the 1995 Ghana Education Service Act created District Education Oversight Committees (DEOCs) as well as com- munity-level School Management Committees (SMCs). Whereas Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) had been expected to play a largely rev- enue raising function, the SMCs were to act like

school boards, which already existed at second- ary level. Annual School Performance Assess- ment Meetings (SPAMs) were to be key events at which the SMC, teachers, and the rest of the community could meet together. Armed with data from the most recent Performance Monitor- ing Test (PMT), which ranks each school in the district based on test results, they are to prepare a plan to improve school performance.

Budget

In the early 1980s government expenditure fell below 10 percent of GDP. At around one fifth of total spending, education spending was just 1.5 percent of GDP. From 1984–87 education expenditure grew rapidly for three reasons: education claimed a growing share of a budget that was a growing share of a growing GDP (Figure 2.2).11 _{Real expenditure grew at an} average rate of 35 percent a year over this period, and the share of education spending in GDP more than doubled (see Annex B). The growth in real spending exceeded the growth in student numbers so real spending per stu- dent also increased.

B O O K S , B U I L D I N G S , A N D L E A R N I N G O U T C O M E S 1 0 G o v e r n m e n t s p e n d i n g o n e d u c a t i o n h a s r i s e n : c e n t r a l g o v e r n m e n t e d u c a t i o n e x p e n d i t u r e F i g u r e 2 . 2 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000

Percent; Real cedis (billions)

0. 0 1. 0 2. 0 3. 0 4. 0 5. 0 6. 0 Percent of GDP

Share of government expenditure (left scale)

Share of GDP (right scale) Real expenditure

(left scale)

These increases were sustained into the early 1990s. Real spending and education’s share of GDP continued to rise, passing 5 percent in 2001. Total spending on education rose faster still as a result of (1) increased parental contributions, (2) the growth of the private sector in the 1990s, (3) substantial donor support to the sector since 1990, and (4) the introduction of GETFund in 2001 (see footnote 11). However, the share of education in central government spending has fallen, though partly mitigated by the one-third of Common Fund resources that are spent by District Assemblies on schools.12

The share of basic education in total educa- tion spending has fluctuated around an average of 67 percent over the period 1989–2001, being above this average in the early 1990s and again in the most recent years. No substantial reori- entation of the education budget appears to have taken place in the period since 1989.13_However, at an average for the period of 42 percent, the share going to primary education is above the one-third reported for the early 1980s, showing that the shift took place during the major expan- sion in funding in the mid-1980s.