An overview of Ghana’s educational system and its implication for educational equity

Figures & data

Table 1. Indicators for assessing education equity

Indicator	Description
Comparably High Achievement and other Student Outcomes	As data on academic achievement and other students outcomes are disaggregated and analyzed, one sees high comparable performance for all identifiable groups of learners, and achievement/performance gaps are virtually nonexistent.
Equitable Access and Inclusion	The unobstructed entrance and involvement in, and full participation of learners in excellent community schools, programs, and activities within those schools.
Equitable Opportunity to Learn	The creation of challenging learning opportunities such that every child, regardless of characteristics and educational needs, is given the requisite pedagogical, social, emotional and psychological and materials supports to achieve the high academic standards of excellence that are established.
Equitable Resource Distribution	The assignment of funds, staff and other resources for equity and excellence, allocation, distribution, sources of funding (i.e., hard or soft; local or state and federal), timeliness and appropriateness of funding (i.e., resources when they are needed, where they are needed) including qualified staff.
School Accountability	The assurance that all education stakeholders accept responsibility and hold themselves and each other accountable and responsible for every learner having full access to quality education, qualified teachers, challenging curriculum, full opportunity to learn, and appropriate support for learning so that they can achieve at excellent levels in literacy and core content areas.

Source: Scott (2006).

Table 2. Analyzing data with indicators, issue questions, and parameters

Indicator	Issue questions	Parameters
Comparably High Achievement and other Student Outcomes	What is the literacy rate? What is the completion rates? What is the performance in the BECE?	Literacy rate Completion rates Performance in BECE
Equitable Access and Inclusion	What is the enrollment levels? What is the gender parity index?	Enrollment levels Transition rates
Equitable Opportunity to Learn	What is the household expenditure on education? What is placement in high school?	Household expenditure on education. Placement in High School.
Equitable Resource Distribution	What is the teacher–pupil ratio? What is the distribution of core textbook by region?	Teacher–pupil ratio Distribution of core textbook.
School Accountability	What are the existing educational monitoring systems? What factors promote and/or hinder monitoring and evaluation systems in schools?	Existing educational monitoring systems. Factors that promote and/or hinder monitoring and evaluation.

Table 3. Literacy rate in Ghana

Sex	Urban	Rural	National rate
Male	80.9	53.0	67.3
Female	60.3	31.4	46.9
Total	69.6	41.7	56.3

Source: Ghana Statistical Service (2014).

Table 4. Completion rates in basic education

	National						Deprived districts
% Completion rate	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15	2015/16	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15	2015/16
Primary	91.6	93.7	112.4	97.5	99.6	101.6	114.2	86.9	94.9	101.5
JHS	66.9	66.8	70.1	69.0	73.5	76.1	59.9	57.1	63.7	65.1

Source: Ministry of Education (2016).

Table 5. Distribution of 2015 BECE results by region

Region	Above average(1–3)	Average (4–6)	Below average (7–9)
Ashanti	26.3	55.8	17.9
Brong Ahafo	17.4	55.0	27.6
Central	18.2	55.7	26.0
Eastern	15.9	55.1	29.0
Greater Accra	44.2	46.3	9.5
Northern	7.1	52.8	40.1
Upper East	3.5	42.6	53.9
Upper West	6.3	48.5	45.2
Volta	11.9	53.8	34.2
Western	21.2	61.3	17.5

Source: Ministry of Education (2016).

Table 6. Gender parity index, basic schools

	National						Deprived districts
Level	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15	2015/16	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15	2015/16
KG	0.98	0.98	1.03	1.01	1.04	1.01	1.02	0.99	1.00	0.99
Primary	0.97	0.97	0.99	0.99	1.00	1.01	0.97	0.94	0.96	0.97
JHS	0.92	0.94	0.93	0.95	0.96	0.97	0.91	0.88	0.90	0.93
SHS	0.87	0.87	0.86	0.91	0.91	0.94

Source: Ministry of Education (2016).

Table 7. Enrolment statistics by region, 2015/16

Region	P6 to JHS1 transition (%)	JHS3 to SHS1 transition (%)++	Completion rate SHS (%)
Ashanti	97.0	75.4	51.3
Brong Ahafo	89.9	60.6	44.3
Central	101.3	71.7	52.0
Eastern	93.8	110.6	66.7
Greater Accra	108.3	41.9	27.5
Northern	83.8	66.9	45.6
Upper East	86.4	70.0	52.5
Upper West	99.4	71.8	53.3
Volta	88.5	73.1	47.0
Western	93.3	42.8	35.1
TOTAL	94.7	67.4	46.4

Source: Ministry of Education (2016).

Table 8. Average total amount spent by household per member attending school/college in the last 12 months by locality (GHȼ)

	Locality
Item	Accra (AMA)	Other Urban	Rural Coastal	Rural Forest	Rural Savanah	Ghana	Percentage
School and registration fees	475.57	211.69	94.02	74.29	35.41	185.02	40.3
Contribution to PTA	16.16	9.42	6.34	7.67	4.34	9.01	2.0
Uniforms and sports clothes	34.53	19.20	15.94	15.77	11.39	19.20	4.1
Books and school supplies	97.13	46.79	25.48	26.77	11.47	42.34	9.2
Transportation to and from school	71.03	32.11	19.92	14.38	3.67	28.35	6.2
Food, boarding, and lodging	255.37	170.16	106.55	106.78	46.64	143.17	31.2
Expenses on extra classes	64.78	27.47	20.15	17.80	4.51	26.64	5.8
In-kind expenses	9.57	3.68	2.68	6.37	2.88	5.15	1.1
Total	1,024.14	520.53	291.08	269.83	120.31	458.90	100.0

Source: Ghana Statistical Service (2014).

Table 9. Pattern of CSSPS placement, 2013–2015

Year	Total registered	Total qualified	Total placed	Unplaced after 1st round
2013	391,032	391,032	387,149	3,883 (raw score below 200) Placed in private schools
2014	422,946	420,125	420,125	2820 (raw score below 200) Placed in private schools
2015	440,469	439,091	439,091	1378 (raw score below 200) Placed in private schools

Source: Ministry of Education (2016).

Table 10. Core textbook to pupil ratio by region in 2015/16, public basic schools

Region	KG	Primary	JHS
Ashanti	0.2	1.8	1.8
Brong Ahafo	0.2	1.6	1.6
Central	0.2	1.7	1.8
Eastern	0.3	1.9	2.1
Greater Accra	0.1	1.5	1.5
Norther	0.2	1.5	1.4
Upper East	0.3	1.6	1.6
Upper West	0.2	1.6	1.7
Volta	0.2	1.6	1.6
Western	0.2	1.7	1.9
Total	0.2	1.7	1.7

Source: Ministry of Education (2016).

Table 11. Teacher indicators for public basic schools by region, 2015/16

	KG			Primary			JHS
Region	%Trained	PTR	PTTR	% Trained	PTR	PTTR	% Trained	PTR	PTTR
Ashanti	73.8	26.2	35.5	87.4	28.9	33.1	94.5	13.9	14.7
Brong Ahafo	49.6	25.9	52.3	67.3	29.1	43.1	85.5	13.9	16.2
Central	69.2	30.4	44.0	80.5	33.6	41.8	89.7	14.8	16.5
Eastern	79.9	26.5	33.2	88.8	27.2	30.6	92.1	13.2	14.4
Greater Accra	90.6	29.5	32.6	97.6	36.3	37.2	97.0	19.0	19.6
Northern	63.6	56.5	88.8	68.5	41.0	59.8	86.9	21.1	24.2
Upper East	56.3	50.9	90.4	59.4	44.5	74.9	83.0	20.0	24.1
Upper West	58.2	54.0	92.9	62.2	41.1	66.2	77.2	16.8	21.7
Volta	66.6	36.2	54.4	80.3	32.7	40.7	89.3	15.0	16.8
Western	53.1	42.1	79.3	67.9	36.8	54.2	83.1	18.4	22.1
TOTAL	65.9	34.1	51.8	78.0	33.6	43.0	89.6	15.8	17.7

Source: Ministry of Education (2016).

Table 12. Summary of findings

Indicators for assessing educational equity	Parameters	Findings of the study
Comparably High Achievement and other students outcomes	Literacy rate Completion rates Performance in BECE	Literacy rates in urban areas (69.6%) are higher than that of rural areas (41.7%). The literacy rates among males (67.3%) are higher than that of females (46.9%). In terms of the completion rate of students, there is a higher completion rate at the primary level compared to that of the Junior High School level. Regions such as the Greater Accra Region (44.2) and the Ashanti Region (26.3%) had the best above average performance in BECE. These two regions are among the highest earners in Ghana. The three Northern Regions namely Northern Region (7.1%), Upper East Region (3.5%) and Upper West Region (6.3%) were the worst above average performing regions in the BECE. These three regions are among the poorest regions in Ghana.
Equitable Access and Inclusion	Enrollment levels Transition rates	The Gender Parity statistics show that as the educational level of students goes up the Gender Parity Index reduces. This implies that the female enrollment goes down as students move up the educational ladder from Kindergarten to Senior High School. Ghana’s educational system is currently producing a lot of unskilled labor. This is due to the high dropout rate at the Junior High School level. With the exception of the Eastern Region, the transition rate from primary 6 to Junior High School 1 is higher than the transition rate from Junior High School 3 to Senior High School 1.
Equitable Opportunity to Learn	Household expenditure on education Placement in high school	The expenditure on education in urban centers is higher than that of the rural areas. Accra has the highest average expenditure on education. It must be noted that the Greater Accra Region is one of the highest performing regions in the BECE. There is, therefore, a relationship between expenditure on education and performance in BECE. Due to limited educational facilities, not all qualified candidates got a placement to the various Senior High Schools. For example, between 2013 and 2015, a total of 8,081 qualified candidates did not get a placement to Senior Schools.
Equitable Resource Distribution	Teacher–pupil ratio Distribution of core textbook	A total of 2,969 schools still holds classes under trees in Ghana and these schools are mostly in rural Ghana. Ideally, each primary and Junior High School student are supposed to have three core textbooks for English, Mathematics, and Science. However, none of the schools in the 10 regions were able to meet this standard. Also, there is a disparity in the distribution of textbooks at the primary and Junior High School level with the Ashanti Region being among the regions with the highest textbook to pupil ratio. The three Norther Regions namely Northern, Upper East, and Upper West Regions are among the regions with the highest pupil-teacher ratios. These regions are also among the worst performing regions in the BECE.
School Accountability	Existing educational monitoring systems. Factors that promote and/or hinder educational monitoring.	In Ghana, there are two main forms of supervision and these are District-Based supervision and the School-Based supervision. Educational monitoring in Ghana is inhibited by resource constraints such as delay in the release of funds.

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Ghana Statistical Service. (2014). Ghana living standards survey round 6 (GLSS 6). Accra: Author.

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