GSS to conduct learning poverty survey in September?

The Ghana Statistical Service will conduct the eighth living standards survey on learning poverty in September 2024.

The survey will be carried out in 1,710 clusters across the country, involving 25,650 households.

Professor Samuel Kobina Annim, the Government Statistician, announced this in Accra at the launch of the Ghana Living Standards Survey round eight (GLSS 8).

The Professor explained learning poverty as the inability of a child to read and understand a simple text and basic numeracy at the child’s learning level.

He said the survey would provide data for estimating monetary and non-monetary poverty, estimating national accounts using household consumption expenditure and tracking knowledge and outcomes of specific social, economic and educational policy interventions.

The survey, Prof Annim said, would measure 74 out of the 169 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets and 98 out of the SDG indicators.

Ghana had conducted seven rounds of the survey since 1987 with a five-year interval between each round and each survey field data collection spanning 12 months.

The seventh round of the survey centred on household financial services. He said this year’s focus on learning poverty was due to the 2021 Population and Housing Census figure that identified 7.9 million persons who are six years older and could not read or write with understanding in any language.

Touching on the benefits, the Professor said the survey would make available data useful for identifying vulnerable groups and inform policies to address issues identified.

“The GLSS 8 will be used to track five goals of the African Union Agenda 2063, including a high standard of living, quality of life, and well-being for all citizens, well-educated citizens and a skills revolution underpinned by science, technology, and innovation,” he said.

Reverend John Ntim Fordjour, Deputy Minister of Education, commended the Service for the survey and assured the Ministry’s support to ensure credible and reliable data for policy formulation.

The findings of the survey, the Deputy Minister said, would help fine-tune the Ministry’s policies to maximise the outcomes aimed at transforming education to be fit for purpose.

He said the country had made strides in improving learning poverty with the introduction of the National Standardised Test in 2021 for primary four pupils, of whom 54 per cent were proficient in reading and learning.

Rev Fordjour said the government had invested GH¢129 billion since 2017 in education, an indication of its commitment to be on the path of sustainable development.

He said the introduction of the free Senior High School had led to an increase in enrolment for over one million students.

GNA

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