Accra, July 20, GNA - The Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), on Tuesday identified serious leakages in the disbursement procedure of the Capitation Grant across the country.
"The leakages are observed along the transfer chain, from Ghana Education Service (GES), through the District Education Offices (DEO) down to the beneficiary schools," Mr Daniel Armah-Attoh, CDD-Ghana Senior Researcher, said at the launch of the a survey report, in Accra.
Mr Armah-Attoh called on the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and the GES to publish records on the release and disbursement of funds to the
districts in the media and on their respective websites for each district to know
how much had been released to it by the Ministry.
Mr. Tawiah said the situation had become so alarming that as at the end of last semester, 50 per cent of students could not pay their fees adding 93I and other executives have to encourage so many students to marshal the necessary courage to continue, although some drop out anyway".
He gave the annual range of fees as GH¢872 for diploma, GH¢1,188 for degree and GH¢1,430 for weekend students.
The SRC President said due to low level of government's support to the Institute, Management was compelled to bill students for projects such as libraries, washrooms, lecture halls, halls of residence among others, all of which contributed to the 93sky-rockecting" nature of the fees.
"Cost of transportation in and out is also high and most students often get to campus late and very tired because they do not have residential facilities on campus. Where are we heading? Exactly what mistakes have we committed?" he asked.
Mr. Tawiah argued that the country's constitution guaranteed a progressive free education for all asking 93or are we not Ghanaian students who deserve a fair share of the educational cake".
He said: 93In this 21st Century, it would be ignominious to see Ghanaian students drop out of school basically because of exorbitant fees and urged government to take full responsibility of the Institute as it does for other public tertiary institutions because it adopted it (IPS) also as one of them".
Mr. Tawiah urged management to develop more flexible terms of payment of the fees as well as 93let the students know exactly what they are being charged for and the breakdown of the fees into components".
He called on all well-meaning Ghanaians including Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene, an alumnus, to come on board to fight and make education affordable and accessible to all.
Mr. Wonder Madilo, President of National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS), said the situation on campuses of most tertiary institutions was "gradually becoming suppressive in a democratic dispensation", school authorities not accountable to students.
He said NUGS would no longer tolerate actions by school authorities that sought to suppress students.
Mr. Madilo noted that despite the high fees, school facilities continued to deteriorate adding, among others 93we continue to stand for lectures".
Mr. Abubakar Abdul-Fatawu, Treasurer of Ghana Union of Professional Students, said the cost of education at professional institutions was too high to afford as per the current economic conditions.
Most of the students on campus during the press conference wore red arm bands in solidarity with the SRC.
IPS was adopted in 1978 as a fully-fledged public institution and later granted a full-fledged university status in 2009 to award its own degrees following the signing of a Presidential Charter by the Government.
"The DEOs would then account for the funds received to their respective Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to ensure effective follow-up to
the schools in their various localities for monitoring and verification of
receipts," the CDD-Ghana Senior Researcher said.
Mr Armah-Attoh appealed for evaluation of the spending pattern,
assessment of the relationship between allocation, equity and improved quality
outcomes in the education sector.
He recommended the formulation and implementation of policy measures
that would gradually align education policy outcomes from enrolment explosion
as a result of the capitation grant.
"There is the need to improve monitoring and the internal management and
implementation processes of the capitation grant, particularly reviewing and revising its implementation guidelines to meet the changing trend," Mr Armah -Attoh stated.
Mr Francis Tsegah, Board Member of CDD-Ghana who launched the report, said government's interventions over the years were aimed at increasing and retaining quality teachers in the classroom and ensuring all children of school going age had access to education.
He said that the commitment to transform the education sector had led to increase in budgetary allocations averaging about 25 per cent of national budget.
"Teachers' emoluments constitute the largest amount of more that 80 per cent of the education budget=85.. on the other side of the coin, the Capitation Grant was introduced to abolish the payment of schools fees that subverted universal access to education," Mr Tsegah said.
The study was conducted in eight public primary schools in the Western Region, representing the costal belt, 12 in Ashanti Region, representing the forest belt, and 10 from the Northern Region, representing the savannah belt.
The Government of Ghana set up the Capitation Grant during the 2005/2006 academic year, and under the scheme, every public primary school receives an amount of money for each pupil enrolled per year.
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