SEND-Ghana, a social advocacy organization, has called on government to take a critical look at the inflation trends on the capitation grants and review upwards its rates by at least 50 per cent.
Mrs. Harriet Agyemang, a Programme Officer, SEND-Ghana speaking at a stakeholder forum on the annual budgets and expenditure of the educational sector, said government should also review the targeting policy for the school feeding programme to ensure that only needy children were fed.
[contextly_sidebar id=”PiUFejtutJN9BPr6UrAyUM4vs2atOSKD”]The forum sponsored by IBIS Ghana was to engage stakeholders to discuss budget briefs in the education sector from 2010 to 2015.
The study assessed the outcome of the implementation of the budget and provided recommendation to the sector.
She urged government to increase its financial commitment for assets, and goods and services by investing at least 35 per cent of the budget in these budget items.
The Programme Officer said to address infrastructural deficit and provide equal opportunity for all children, government should utilize all funds from the education sector’s share of the oil revenue for this development.
She also called on government to introduce standards to compel private schools to hire trained teachers and retain existing staff, given the critical role of private pre-schools in laying the education foundation for children.
Mrs. Agyemang said government should improve on the content of the budget statement, by providing sufficient details in the presentation of information as well as limit changes in the style of presentation especially on the appendixes to make it user friendly.
Mr. Ishmael Ackah, the Head of Policy Unit, African Centre for Energy Policy, ACEP, urged government to prioritize the use of the oil revenue to finance capital investment in education.
He said there should be a comprehensive accountability mechanism such as a defined formula for oil revenue allocation and this should follow an investment plan with effective tracking mechanism.
“Government should also strengthen the District education oversight committees to monitor oil funded projects,” he added.
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Credit: GNA