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Equity
Figure 4.14  Progression of Students to SHS, by Wealth Quintile 250
Number of students
200
200 200 182 162
175
150
131
147
100
81
76
50
0
29
Potential P1 pupils
Enrolled in primary
Enrolled in JHS Quintile 5
JHS completers
Enrolled in SHS
Quintile 1
Source: Created by author using data from MoE EMIS 2011 and NER data from Casely-Hayford 2011.
completion by household wealth.] The model starts with 200 eligible P1 students in each wealth quintile (potential P1 pupils). Variation in primary access and primary and JHS completion rates by wealth quintile means that by the end of JHS, 147 students (of the original 200) from Quintile 5 would have completed JHS compared to 76 students from the poorest wealth quintile (Q1). The access gap between the two quintiles grows to a three to one difference in access to SHS. The figure shows only Quintile 5 and Quintile 1; however, the declining trend in access to upper levels of education is consistent from Q5 to Q1. Using 2008 data, Casely-Hayford (2011) notes that combined JHS and SHS NER for pupils for Q5 households is 61 percent, while that for pupils for Q3 and Q1 households is 42 percent and 22 percent, respectively.9 Identifying with the concerns raised by the Dzobo Committee (1974), Djangmah writes: Government is aware of the quality gap which is a mirror of the socio-economic gap in society between an affluent minority and a poorer majority. Children in public schools see themselves as unlucky to be receiving lower quality education in schools owned by the state. The inferiority complex generated by calling themselves CYTO meaning not in the main stream is evidence of how deeply the divide has grown. (2011, 15)
Results of Equity-Improving Policies and Programs Equity measures are usually designed to improve the fairness and inclusivity of the education system. In the past decade, the Government of Ghana has initiated several programs designed to improve the lives of the poor and improve equity Basic Education beyond the Millennium Development Goals in Ghana http://dx.doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-0098-6