CDD calls for review of capitation grant disbursement

Accra, July 16, GNA - The Ghana Centre for Democratic Development

(CDD-Ghana) on Wednesday identified the capitation grants scheme as a source for massive resource leakage in the educational system and called for a review of the scheme.

"The scheme is facing serious challenges, if not carefully reviewed, can constitute a huge source of resource leakage, especially as disbursements based only on school population does not seem to serve the poor as much as the scheme had set out to do," Mr Joseph Asunka, CDD-Ghana Programme Officer, stated at media briefing in Accra.

The media briefing on "Teacher's Attitude to School Attendance in Public Primary Schools in Ghana," was to ignite public debate on absence of teachers in public schools, which according to CDD-Ghana, was a major impediment to effective public service delivery.

The survey conducted in the Asante Akim North, Birim North and Wa West districts between February 25 and March 14 this year was designed to establish the extent of teacher absence in the country to quantify the magnitude of the impact of teacher absence in the education sector in terms of time and resources.

The CDD-Ghana suggested that the Capitation Grant Scheme should be redesigned to remove inefficiencies and give more support to deprived schools. The survey indicated that learning outcomes were related to the amount of time

students/pupils engaged in learning tasks. However, visits to schools revealed that students were often taught for only a fraction of the intended time, particularly in lower-income rural areas.

The survey also identified poor supervision of teachers as a major contributor to

the high teacher absence in classrooms, as less than 57 per cent received monthly

circuit supervisor visits, three per cent have never seen their circuit supervisor while

more than 13 per cent receive only once a term visit. Due to poor or lack of supervision, an overwhelming majority 87 per cent of teachers have never received any sanctions such as written queries or salary suspension or even verbal warning in the past 12 months.

The CDD-Ghana survey concluded that schools equipped with good

infrastructure - staff common rooms, pupil's desk, access to potable water,

healthcare facilities and lorry/bus stations recorded significantly lower teacher

absence rates. Whereas only 21 per cent of teachers in schools equipped with staff common

rooms were absent at least once during the week, more than half 53 per cent were

similarly absent in schools without staff common rooms. Whereas only about 10 per cent of teachers in schools that have desks for

pupils were absent at least twice in the week, nearly a quarter (22 per cent) of

schools without pupils' desks were similarly absent. The CDD-Ghana urged the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports

(MOESS) and the Ghana Education Services (GES) to strengthen supervision in

public schools. The introduction of the National Inspectorate Board must be "fast tracked" and

special arrangements for teachers to draw salaries in or near school locations

possible on Saturdays.