Education is fundamental to the social, civic, and economic development of children and broader society. It has been described by the UN SecretaryGeneral as “the single most important investment that any country can make for its future and its people”1 .President Nana Akufo-Addo was announced as a Global Partnership for Education champion for domestic financing for education in October 20222 , and called for the allocation of at least 20% of national budgets to education.

Ghana has been successful in expanding access to education. The challenge remains to improve learning outcomes. At Primary Four (P4), 62% of Ghanaian children score below ‘basic’ in mathematics and 50% score below ‘basic’ in English3 . Although progress has been made in increasing graduation rates, gaps between net (i.e. right-age) and gross enrolment rates persist. These indicate that pupils often struggle to attain the necessary learning when they should, delaying their transition to higher levels4 . In the past decade, there has not been a clear trend in terms of improved learning outcomes. Whilst children in Ghana receive 12 years of schooling, the poor learning outcomes in Ghana mean that they only receive the equivalent of 6 learning adjusted years of schooling.

Ghana is experiencing an ongoing socioeconomic crisis, with implications for education provision and access. Since 2022 the crisis has manifested in Ghana through mounting debt-service costs, high rates of price inflation, a decline in GDP growth, and a depreciation in the value of the Ghanaian Cedi . The crisis constrains the fiscal space available for the government, creating risk for education spending.

Socio-economic factors jeopardise school enrolment, attendance, and children’s readiness to learn. The COVID-19 pandemic led to schools in Ghana being closed in March 2020 and not fully re-opening until January 2021 . The impact of the closures can be seen through an increase in repetition rates, which rose across all grades from 3.5% in 2018 to 10.5% in 2021. Over 85% of parents said that their children “definitely” or “probably” lost learning due to the pandemic. This is especially concerning given the pre-existing challenges in learning outcomes, the erosion of the value of government expenditure through price inflation, and the fall in the prioritization of basic education within the MOE budget.

In the face of this crisis, the Government of Ghana (GoG) has negotiated a three-year Extended Credit Facility agreement with the IMF, undertaken comprehensive restructuring of domestic and international debt, and introduced measures to control expenditure and increase revenues. This agreement includes specific targets related to education spending through school capitation grants and the Ghana School Feeding Programme. These aim to ensure that these areas of spending are protected and enhanced.

The main loci of education funding in the national budget are through the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund). The education budget is funded primarily from domestic sources, which for 2023 comprise 93% of the total allocation. Funding from central government (GoG + ABFA14 + GETFund) makes up 80% of the total budget for 2023, compared to 83% in 2022. The proportion of internally generated funds has remained roughly constant, while the share of development partner funding has more than doubled from 3% to 7% from 2022 to 2023.

The education budget increased by 21.5% from 2022 to 2023 in nominal terms, however due to the high rate of price inflation, it declined by 6.1% in real terms. Since 2018, the MOE budget has increased by 120% in nominal terms, while prices have increased by around 170%, resulting in the education budget for 2023 being 18% lower in real terms than it was in 2018. Under the 2023 MTEF, the MOE budget is projected to continue falling in real terms in the years ahead.

Education’s share of total government spending is below the global benchmark of 15% to 20% or the government’s own commitment of 23%. Having almost met the global benchmark in 2019, when education spending reached 17.9%, the total education budget has declined as a share of total government spending and is only 10.9% for 2023. As a proportion of GDP, education spending has declined from 4.3% in 2020 to 3.1% in 2023, compared to the UNESCO target of at least 4% to 6%.

“Education budget declined by 6.1% in real terms”

Under current MOF projections, education spending will continue to decline as a proportion of GDP and total government spending in each year to 2026 when it is projected to amount to 8.6% of total government spending, and 2.3% of GDP.

The MOE budget is well balanced between critical inputs, indicating strong allocative efficiency at the planning stage. 67% of the budget is allocated to compensation, with 21% for goods and services, and 12% for capital. The breakdown of GETFund allocations for 2023 is not available, but these are divided between goods and services and capital, implying a higher share of expenditure in these categories for education as a whole. These allocations should help meet recurrent financing needs (teachers, textbooks, etc.) and allow investment to improve and expand schools.

Prioritise investment in basic education

Ghana has made remarkable progress in achieving equitable access to basic education, but learning levels remain low. Basic education in Ghana covers kindergarten (KG), primary, and junior high school (JHS). Foundational learning acquired during these years provides a basis for children to progress to high levels of education and ensures they have basic functional literacy and numeracy.

Reflecting this importance, the Education Sector Plan 2018-2030 establishes that by P4, all children in Ghana should have learned to read fluently with comprehension, acquired the fundamental mathematical competencies, and are developing resilient socio-emotional skills. Yet, the 2021 National Standardized Test results for P4 students showed that half of students score below basic proficiency in English and maths. As English is the language of instruction from P4 onwards, pupils’ learning in all areas relies on this proficiency.

Persistent gaps between gross enrolment ratios and net enrolment ratios indicate that many children are failing to gain the required skills and transition to the higher levels of education. While progress has been made with accessing basic education, yet slight declining rates of students at the JHS as they progress is of concern and needs further investigation, especially with the introduction of the SHS.

Address inequities in provision and per-pupil spending

Well-trained teachers are one of the most important components of a quality education system. Spending on compensation constitutes the majority of education spending in Ghana, and around the world. Within Ghana, the pupil teacher ratio (PTR) varies between regions, especially at kindergartens and primary schools. Several regions have high PTRs Several regions have high pupil teacher ratios at kindergarten and primary level, with North East and Savanna showing particularly high levels. These differences in pupil teacher ratios imply large differences in overall education spending per child. and implies that differences in PTRs between regions translate into significant spending differences. Per-pupil spending is estimated to be at least twice as high for a child in kindergarten in Bono as in North East or Savanna.

In Ghana the share of children from the richest quintile (31%) with foundational numeracy skills is 6 times higher than those from the poorest quintile (5%). This gap is even wider in reading skills – children from the richest quintile (50%) with foundational reading skills is 10 times higher than those from the poorest quintile (5%). When comparing by disability, only 2% of children with concentration disability have numeracy skills. This is about 8 times lower than those who have no functional difficulty (17%).

Use proven, cost-effective approaches to improve learning

International and local evidence indicates a number of ‘smart buys’ in education that offer high returns. These include:

• Provide information on the benefits of education and quality of schools to local communities
• Structured lesson plans with linked materials and support for professional learning sessions focusing on phonics and teaching at the right level.
• Target teaching instruction by learning level, not grade.
• Invest in ensuring that textbooks and other teaching and learning materials reach classrooms.
• Provide structured, on-the-job education leadership training for all basic education schools.
• Explore new resourcing mechanisms for basic education, including results-based financing.
• Assist Regional, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Education Offices to prioritize objectives and oversee their achievement, providing supportive supervision to this end.
• Consider ways of decentralizing decision making and enhancing local accountability