PLUG THE LOOPHOLES (JULY 21, 2010)

THE role of education in national development is crucial for every country, especially Third World countries, including Ghana.
It is for this reason that the framers of the 1992 Constitution, under Article 25 (1), guaranteed the right of all persons to equal educational opportunities and facilities by ensuring free compulsory universal basic education.
This constitutional provision also ensures that secondary and higher education shall be made available and accessible to all.
In order to achieve the goals set by the Constitution, the government has also committed itself to the achievement of universal primary education as part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG II) that by 2015 Ghanaian children everywhere, boys and girls alike, would complete a full course of primary education.
To boost this laudable initiative, therefore, in 2005 the Ministry of Education (MoE) began to implement the Capitation Grant scheme (the policy of school fees abolition by providing grants) with the objective of increasing access to education.
Since the introduction of the scheme, much seems to have been achieved regarding increased school enrolment and also relief to parents from the burden of paying school fees.
That notwithstanding, there have been allegations of malfeasance associated with the implementation of the scheme.
These allegations or perceptions have been given an empirical basis by a survey conducted by the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) which has seriously indicted officials of the Ghana Education Service (GES), especially head teachers, for corrupt practices in the disbursement and utilisation of the grant.
The DAILY GRAPHIC shares in the suggestion by the researchers that the spending pattern of the Capitation Grant must be evaluated to determine whether it is conducive to improve education as anticipated by the policy.
The researchers, in their report dubbed: “Public Expenditure Tracking Survey in Ghana: Tracking Capitation Grant in Public Primary Schools for the 2008 and 2009 Academic Year”, noted that because of the discrepancies in the enrolment figures from the various quarters, there was the likelihood of the Ministry of Finance releasing funds for “ghost pupils”, with more going into the wrong hands.
As was rightly pointed out by Mr Daniel Armah-Attoh, one of the researchers, at the launch of the report, the inconsistencies in enrolment figures should be worrying because they gave room for corruption and lent credence to the already existing perception of the public about the scheme.
The report might have opened the Pandora’s box for a firm action to be taken to correct the rot in the scheme and ensure that the objective of this laudable initiative is not thrown overboard as a failed policy.
There should be cause for alarm, since the report indicated that comparisons of the financial records of the district directors and those of head teachers also confirmed leaks in the system.
In spite of the scheme, some school authorities still go ahead to impose some questionable fees clothed in the name of parent-teacher association (PTA) dues, over which some pupils have been reportedly sacked from school for non payment.
We are not saying that PTA dues should not be paid. Our concern is that school authorities must be realistic with the fees being charged.
All these must attract the attention of the educational authorities in order not to draw back the objective of the Capitation Grant.
Let us take decisive action now to plug the loopholes in order to save the scheme from collapse.