Story: News Desk

Senior Programmes Officer of Africa Education Watch, Divine Kpe, has asked the government to use the supplementary budget to increase budget allocations to education to at least 15 percent.

Speaking in an interview with the media  in Accra on Friday, June 16, 2023  he said this would help address the infrastructural deficits that have resulted in over 5,000 basic schools still remaining under trees across the country.

“The government should use the supplementary budget to increase the budget allocation to education to the minimum threshold of 15 percent. And this increment should be targeted at addressing the infrastructural challenges at the basic education level,” he stated.

This follows a report put together by some Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) that revealed that only 17 out of 5,400 schools under trees have been completed by the Akufo-Addo-led government since 2021.

The report, which was put together by 10 CSOs including STAR-Ghana, CAMFED and ActionAid, also added that at the current pace, it will take Ghana several years to eradicate the over 5,400 schools under trees, sheds and dilapidated structures.

Mr Kpe also stressed the need for the government to reconsider its plan of procuring tablets for Senior High Schools, adding that “the best government can do is to be prudent in its use of resources and that the money should be used for basic schools.”

He further urged them to procure textbooks and distribute same to basic schools across the country to enhance teaching and learning.

“Government should reconsider its plan of procuring tablets for SHSs. The best the government can do is to be prudent with resources and channel such monies to the basic schools,” he stated.