UNICEF, two others push for more funds for education

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and two advocacy groups have called on the government to review its allocation to the educational sector in order to help deliver vital education in 2016.

The groups, the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC) and the Institute of Fiscal Policy (IFP) said the challenges in the sector required more attention for the sector in terms of budgetary allocations. 

Their analysis of the 2016 budget showed that the discretionary allocations to the education sector decreased by 3.1 per cent from GH¢6.74 billion in 2015 to GH¢6.53 billion in 2016.

Speaking to the GRAPHIC BUSINESS, Mrs Chris Dadzie of the IFP, said although the government had made commendable efforts to increase public access to education, the focus had largely been on what she terned as quantity adjustments.

“A large number of the public basic schools lack quality facilities, resulting in poor learning outcomes. Ensuring quality access for improved learning outcomes at the basic education level will require provision of significant infrastructure. This is also necessary for bridging the equity gap education,” she said.

She added that the sector needed to be pushed up in terms of investment and assets, and service areas to be able to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 4) for ensuring quality education.

Need for review

According to the report released by the group, it was crucial for government to undertake a public expenditure review on education in 2016 to ensure a better allocation of funds to provide vital educational training, equipment and infrastructure.

The groups said given the continued challenges faced in the education sector in terms of the quality of outcomes, particularly learning, the 4.3 per cent decline in basic education expenditure, a key poverty reduction expenditure, did not augur well for bridging the equity gap in education.

That, they said, had also led to a fall in the share of education spending in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and total government revenue and needed to be addressed to forestall negative repercussions on achievement of required educational standards.

Expenditure allocations to the sector

The main spending categories include compensation, goods and services, assets or capital expenditure which are considered as discretionary expenditures, and the GETFund which is statutory or mandatory funds.

 The analysis shows that the share of the Ministry of Education sector spending as a percentage of total MDA allocation expenditure, experienced a decline in 2016, though it has been increasing since 2012.

Sources of funding         

The sector is mainly financed by the government, through Internally Generated Fund (IGF), mainly generated from tertiary education user fees, donor partners, Ghana Education Fund (GETFund), the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA) and the Social Intervention Programme (SIP).

In the 2016 budget, government which has been the dominant source of funding to the sector contributed 64 per cent of total funds, IGF 20 per cent, GETFund 14 per cent and donor funds two per cent.

The analysis by the groups showed that government’s share of funding reduced in 2016 by about one percentage point over that of 2015 (65 per cent). IGF experienced a three percentage point increase, donor funds remained at two per cent, ABFA did not make any contribution in the year under review. The SIP’s contribution to the sector ceased since 2013.