Editorial: Steady increase in access to education but quality concerns persist

There has been a significant steady increase in access to education across all levels in the country, although concerns over quality still persist.

The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) recently released a report on national education across all levels in the country, which showed substantial improvements in Gross Enrolment Rate (GER) and Net Enrolment Rate (NER) at the kindergarten, primary, junior high school (JHS) and senior high school (SHS) levels.

Despite these gains, disparities in quality indicators such as Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR), Pupil to Trained Teacher Ratio (PTTR) and core subject pass rates present challenges which demand urgent attention.

Despite high GER, statistics on net enrolment rates which measure age-appropriate enrolment indicate that significant proportions of pupils’ at all four levels of education were not within expected ages. This tends to shorten their working years, affecting pension contributions.

Gender disparities in education access, according to the report, have decreased over time with gender parity being achieved at the primary level. However, gender gaps persist in the quality of education as measured using core subject pass rates.

The report further noted that quality of education records stark variations across regions in comparison with access to education. For instance, pupil-to-trained-teacher ratios in the Northern, North East and Savannah Rgions are greater than 50 pupils per trained teacher – more than twice that of Greater Accra (25 pupils per trained teacher).

The report also provided information on progress toward policy targets in the Education Strategic Plan (2018 – 2030) and finds that while policy targets have been reached at some levels for gross enrolment, gender parity and pupil to teacher ratios, national targets for net enrolment have been missed across all four levels of education.

Minister for Education Haruna Iddrisu, in his keynote address, observed that the findings will provide invaluable insights to inform discussions and policy decisions of the National Education Forum Planning committee – “ensuring that our strategies are grounded in data and aligned with national priorities”.

He noted that while efforts have been made to expand secondary education, the country has not adequately prepared its tertiary institutions to absorb the rising number of students.

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