Estimating future first cycle school enrolments for Ghana

Abstract

Education has been one of the priority areas in Ghana's development program, and efforts have been made to provide educational facilities for as many children of school age as possible with regard to the country's human and financial resources. This has resulted in rapid increases in school enrolments, especially in the period 1960-61 to 1978-79, when primary school enrolments increased by 194%. Despite these high increases, 30% of the children of school age were not in school during the period 1970-75. Ghana's educational system is also characterised by sex and areal differentials in enrolment and inefficiency as is evident from the high dropout and unemployment rates among 1st Cycle (primary and middle) school graduates. Ghana's rapid population growth, inherent in the existing high fertility and falling mortality, has tended to produce more children of school age than the educational system can absorb. Ghana's population will increase by at least 5.3 million by 1990 and at least 2.4 million children will require primary education at this time. There will be, at least, 1.9 million and 1.1 million children in primary and middle school respectively by 1990. Even so, at least 0.4 million children will not have access to primary education in 1990. The projections also indicate that Ghana will require at least 66,658 and 35,323 teachers for the primary and middle schools respectively in 1990. Again at least 14,249 and 8,859 primary and middle school respectively will be required by 1990, while capital and recurrent expenditure on primary and middle schools will increase at least from US$9,285,000 and US$4,749,000 in 1970 to $88,037,000 and $88,911,000 for the two levels respectively by 1990. Show more