48
Equity
3. Improving equity in basic education service delivery can greatly strengthen system performance in terms of quality and efficiency. Government commitment to equity is a central feature of the legal and policy framework guiding education in Ghana. Article 25 of the Constitution of Ghana (1992) states: “Basic education shall be free, compulsory and available to all.” NERIC (2007) and the Education Act (2008) confirm this commitment. The first policy objective of the Education Sector Plan (ESP) 2010–20 commits the MoE to “Improve equitable access to and participation in quality education at all levels.” Elaborating on this objective, the ESP adds that education should play a critical role in eliminating gender and other disparities that arise from exclusion and poverty and that MoE should reach out to excluded children and mainstream them into the public system whenever possible.1 A growing body of research suggests that investments to improve equity in education should be an integral part of any economic growth program. While education alone cannot be expected to resolve this issue, improving equity in education has long been recognized one of the best strategies for improving equality in society. As this chapter will show, unfortunately, students and populations who may require the most support to meet expected comes (for example, learning, primary completion, access to secondary), receive, on average, disproportionately fewer resources (for example, trained teachers, textbooks) from the government than their peers. Inequitable distribution of inputs creates a negatively reinforcing loop where children with the greatest need receive the fewest resources and opportunities, thereby reproducing cycles of poverty and inequality. School-age children in Ghana come from highly diverse and unequal backgrounds. Levels of youth and adult literacy and educational attainment and household socio-economic status vary greatly across Ghana. Each of these characteristics has an effect on access to school, persistence in school and learning. The majority (74 percent) of the population (11 years and older) is literate and a large proportion (67 percent) of the population can read and write in English. However, a large portion of Ghanaian children come from literacypoor home environments: Literacy levels in the three northern regions is below 50 percent (of the population aged 11 years and older) while in other regions at least 69 percent of the population is literate (GSS 2011). Youth literacy rates vary greatly across Ghana. GSS (2011, 234) notes, “Young women’s literacy varies from 44 percent in the Northern region to 81 percent in Greater Accra, and young men’s literacy varies from 47 percent in the Upper East region to 84 percent in the Western region.” Nearly one third of adults in Ghana have never been to school while 40 percent hold a BECE, MSLC, or vocational certificate as their highest qualification.2 Less than 15 percent of the Ghanaians possess a secondary or higher qualification (GLSS 2008, iv).
Basic Education beyond the Millennium Development Goals in Ghana http://dx.doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-0098-6