The African Education Watch has joined the global community to commemorate the 2023 International Day of Education with a call on the government to invest in quality education.
A statement copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) said the quality delivery of education remained a challenge where about 87 percent of children aged 10 years could not read and understand age-appropriate sentences in 2018.
The statement said although Ghana had made significant strides over the years to promote access to education for many children, there remain one million who are out of school, covering nine percent of children ages four to 16 years.
Ghana’s government has expressed commitment to transforming education and this requires adequate and equitable financing, however, the recent 40 percent budgetary cut to basic education does not support the transformation agenda of the government, it stated.
The statement said the government must increase the current 12 percent allocation of the national education budget to 23 percent to be in line with the President’s commitment at the 2022 United Nations Transforming Education Summit.
It added that at least ten percent of the goods and services and 33 percent of the infrastructure budget of the education sector must be committed to basic schools.
“If investments are made adequately to build new schools in replacing the 5,000 schools that are currently under trees and sheds and provide education for the one million out-of-school children.
“There is no better day to recommit to adequate and equitable financing of education than the International Day of Education 2023. The government of Ghana must walk the talk,” it noted.
The statement said this year’s celebration of International Day of Education marked the mid-point of the journey to achieve sustainable development goals by 2030.