The case for Fee Free Secondary Education in Ghana

 INTRODUCTION

I have been following the debate on FEE FREE SHS with keen interest. Here are my pick:

THE ISSUES

1. DEFINING CONCEPT OF QUALITY OF EDUCATION IS FLUID. 

The goal of achieving universal primary education (UPE) has been on the international agenda since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirmed, in 1948, that elementary education was to be made freely and compulsorily available for all children in all nations.The achievement of universal participation in education will be fundamentally dependent upon the quality of education available. What constitutes quality must be clearly defined. Is it just examinations outcomes or includes level of critical thinking, literacy and numeracy? If only examination performance is used as basis, there is very huge gap. Let me illustrate this point with personal observation. When I relocated to 6th Form in the Central Region from the Western Region, I observed that the O/Level failure at my new school was unbelievable. At the same time, people outside this school rated albeit erroneously as one of the best in Ghana. Now I identified the crux of the matter as lying with the method used to measure or perceive quality of education. Absolute numbers disguise failure rates but ratios highlight real performance relative to others. Apparently in my new school, only the absolute numbers of success was being highlighted and because the register many more candidates, the school appeared to be doing 'excellent'. Reality however was that absolute number of candidates failing just O/Level alone was more than combine all the O/Level and A/Level candidates in my previous school. Similarly GES started using ratios of just examination outcomes, very relatively unknown schools like Pope John's (Koforidua) and St. James (Sunyani) topped the chart on several occasions. In any case the reduction of pass average for entry to SHS from aggregate 30 to 45 indicates the fluidity of the concept of quality. Again it debunks the argument that there ain't classroom to accommodate pupils entering SHS. Quality perception is often a facade. Quality education sets out the desirable characteristics of learners (healthy, motivated students), processes (competent teachers using active pedagogies), content (relevant curricula) and
systems (good governance and equitable resource allocation).

2. No clear evidence exists linking ONLY FEE payable as determinant of quality of education. Other factors are at play and fee could be merely one of those complementary factors. Millennium Development Goal TWO (MDG2: Achieve Universal Primary Education) though does not specifically mention fee paying in both the Target 3 and and Indicators 6-8, fee is implied as one of the barriers to achieving MDG2. Further, our current definition of basic education ending at JHS (age 15) rules out the complete attainment of MDG2 as Indicator 8 (Literacy rate of 15-24 year-olds must meet UNESCO recommendations) is outside our current scope by definition of basic education.

3. Contrary to what people are saying, over 95% of all secondary schools in Ghana are already Government-assisted including bearing larger chunk of tuition. Indeed many of the good schools were originally either mission or community founded but these were absolved by government in early post independence period. Indeed I am a product of Catholic founded schools based in the Western and Central regions but at no point in time while there do I recall paying more than the Secondary school at 'Woman No Good' in the Wassa Amenfi District. PEOPLE ARE DELIBERATELY CONFUSING OWNERSHIP WITH WHO IS FUNDING WHAT.

4. There exists clear INVERSE RELATIONSHIP IN THE QUALITY OF EDUCATION between government assisted education at the secondary level and basic schools on the one hand, and privately-owned full fee paying basic and secondary schools on the other hand. Almost all the A-rated secondary schools in Ghana are on the government assisted schools list. For the private secondary schools, may be with the exception of GIS, Akosombo International and SOS schools, the rest even struggle to get admissions. Is it any wonder then that despite the struggle parents and wards go through trying to gain admission to government assisted schools, privately owned full fee paying secondary schools keep bombarding us with advert pleading for enrollment? The same however can not be said of the situation at Primary and JHS. Here privately owned full fee paying schools rank among the top echelon of A-rated schools while pupils of the 'cytos' struggle to make the grades required to gain admission to secondary schools. I do not intend to get into the myriad of reasons accounting for this rather bizarre inverse relationship. You experiencing it or having experienced it know them more than I can conjecture or fathom.

5. FEE FREE EDUCATION AT THE SECONDARY LEVEL IS NOT A NOVELTY. Secondary cycle institutions in Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions have enjoyed and continue to enjoy this social intervention for the past 55 years. Can the arguments being raised against the addition of the remaining 7 regions being enrolled on the scheme suffix in the case of northern Ghana? Indeed there is no empirical evidence to back the claim that fee free education in northern Ghana has provided low quality education or churned out low quality citizens either in IQ or performance relative to the quality of education in the other seven region. Can someone come up with the evidence if there is any? By the token of this logic of fee paying and quality education, when will fee free education in Northern Ghana be abolished then? On the contrary,evidence abound of people from the south relocating and in some cases made name changes (took Islamic names) in order to take advantage of the fee free education prevailing in northern Ghana.

6. Closely related to this thinking is the introduction of capitation grant at basic schools. This policy started in 2005 and 8 years is long enough to identify gaps in quality now and quality prior to its introduction. Is there any such empirical data? I have seen the World Bank report of February 2011 extolling its achievements. Even here I need to point out that when the policy started in 2005, the amount was equivalent to US$3.00 but today it is merely US$2.27. This current government has not increased the amount by even a Pesewa. the fact is it is still paying GHS4.50 announced by the then Minister of State in Charge of Finance, Dr. Osei Akoto in the budget read in November 2008. Reports if anything to go by indicate outstanding arrears of close to one whole academic year.

7. In 1987 when the new Jonior Secondary School (JSS now Junior High School - JHS) system was being rolled out on a full scale from its pilot scheme began in the early 1970s to replace the Standard Seven or Middle School Leaving Certificate (MSLC), there were no WORKSHOPS, NO TRAINED TEACHERS, AND SCHOOLS. I remember communities were TASKED to put up their own infrastructure which government then supplied some workshop tools. 

CONCLUSION

By these points I do not imply ignoring learning the lessons necessary for the successful implementation of this social intervention mechanism. All I seek to buttress is strength does not come from what you can do; it comes from overcoming the things you once thought you could not do or attain. For one could never be a winner if one is not part of the race. Ghana must always remember that no metre given, no metre reaped; Ghana must invest in the things of the future and fee free education is one of them, R&D linked to industry must also be one among others. Time invested in improving oneself cuts down on time wasted in disapproving others. Ghana must not choose to settle. She ought to pursue her set goals knowing it is never too late to accomplish the FEE FREE SHS EDUCATION as constitutionally mandated in Article 25. If you and I do not stand firm in this constitutional conviction that secondary education should be made progressively free, Ghana will not stand at all for other nations have implemented it and today they are reaping the positive outcome of this all important social intervention mechanism.