Towards achieving equity in school infrastructure services: School inspection findings from selected pre-tertiary schools in Ghana.

• In Event: Education, Difference and Development (II)

Proposal

Abstract
Background: Education is a fundamental right of every child, providing them with the knowledge and skills necessary for personal growth and societal progress. However, a significant barrier to achieving quality education for all is the global school infrastructure gaps that persist across countries and regions. According to UNESCO, an estimated 43% of schools globally lack access to basic water and sanitation facilities, affecting millions of students. Furthermore, over 770 million students attend schools with inadequate or nonexistent basic infrastructure, hampering their ability to learn effectively and safely. Ghana, a sub-Saharan African country is of no exception. The Government of Ghana recognizes the importance of addressing the school infrastructure gap and has taken various approaches to close the divide and improve the quality of educational facilities. In 2023, government allocation to the MOE was GHS 24.7 billion, representing 12% of total government expenditure, an increase of 21% over the fiscal year 2022 budget. Successive governments have resourced the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund).
However, though government is constantly taking crucial steps toward addressing the school infrastructure gaps, variations still exist across the 16 regions of Ghana and most importantly at the sub-regional level, hence the need for a sustained monitoring and evaluation of school infrastructure services are necessary to ensure the aim of increasing access to education and inclusive learning. It is at the backdrop of this, the national school’s inspectorate authority was established as part of governments reforms in the education sector, to among other things undertake routine schools’ inspections and make necessary recommendations to government and other relevant stakeholders on the existing infrastructure deficit and conditions in the pre tertiary schools. Therefore, this study provides insight into selected school infrastructure situation and make policy recommendations towards addressing the potential gaps, using dataset from 458 schools selected across all 16 regions of Ghana.

Methods: The study was conducted using primary data collected by across 458 pre-tertiary schools in Ghana in the 3rd term of the 2020/2021 academic year. These schools were selected from a cluster of one hundred and eighty-one (181) districts across the country. The sampling frame used for survey is the list of registered Pre-tertiary educational institutions in Ghana as obtained by EMIS during the 2019 school census. The sampling frame contains information about the Region, District, District Code, EMIS code, School Names, Status (Private/ Public) and educational level (Basic/ Secondary/Technical/Vocational). A total of five hundred and fifty (550) public pre-tertiary schools were selected in equal proportion across the formerly ten (10) regions of Ghana. This was a nationally representative cross-sectional survey of basic public schools (Kindergarten, Primary, and Junior High Schools) in Ghana. A total of 24 teams trained (3 members per team) were selected to execute these tasks in six (6) weeks using two (2) main electronically installed structured questionnaires/forms. Each element in an area was scored on a four-point scale (4-Outstanding; 3-Good; 2-Satisfactory; 1- Unsatisfactory). The area score was calculated as the average element score. The overall quality score was then estimated as the average of the scores calculated for the areas. A facility was rated “Unsatisfactory” if the facility had an overall score of less than 2; “Satisfactory” if the overall score was in the range of 2.00 to 2.99; “Good” if the overall score was 3 to 3.49; and “Outstanding” if the overall score was 3.50 to 4.0. The proportion of schools with Unsatisfactory performance was then calculated as the number of schools with an overall score less than 2 divided by the total number of schools in the survey. Other categories of performance were calculated in a similar fashion. The survey findings are presented based on selected school infrastructure including type of school structure, desk and classroom deficit, teacher accommodation/bungalow, availability of library, ICT laboratory, internet and electricity connectivity, and washroom facilities.
Findings: The findings showed that within the 458 schools, 203 (44.32%) were rated unsatisfactory based on the parameters for overall infrastructure assessment. The schools inspected operate in various structures. 4 (0.87%) had mud buildings, 2 (0.44%) had no physical structure, 379 (82.75%) had cement block and 73 (15.94%) operated in a mixed structures (cement block, mud, wood, tent, under trees). Most of the structures were found to be at different levels of deterioration and were not conducive for effective teaching and learning. Further, 382 (83.4%) had no library and 389 (84.9%) had no ICT facilities to support teaching and learning activities. Significantly, 427 (93.2%) schools had no internet connectivity. Similarly, 445 (97.1%) had inadequate number of computers for the total number of learners enrolled. However, more than half 303 (66.2%) of the schools were connected to electricity. In terms of regional variations in teacher accommodation, Bono East Region had the lowest proportion (4.2%) of available teacher accommodation. Upper West Region had the highest proportion of available teacher accommodation (30.5%), of which only 14.04% of teachers were accommodated by their schools. In examining the sufficiency of desk and furniture, it was observed that 403 (87.99%) had insufficient desks, 98 (21.5%) had inadequate classrooms and 33 (27.3%) had a shortfall in teachers, leading to multi-grade teaching in 121 (26.4%) of the schools inspected. The assessment of washroom facilities revealed that 98 (21.4%) do not have washroom facilities in their schools, while 366 (80.0%) of the schools had more learners to a toilet seat than the recommended threshold. The variations in infrastructure deficits and inadequate gender-responsive facilities places additional burden on government educational budget.
Conclusion: The findings of the study emphasize the importance of addressing the school infrastructure gap, as a crucial measure for expanding access to education and promoting inclusive learning. The government of Ghana has recognized this issue and has taken steps to allocate a significant portion of its budget to the Ministry of Education, as well as mobilizing resources through initiatives like the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) and collaborations with development partners. There is the need for continuous school monitoring and supervision to improve educational facilities and narrow the infrastructure gaps.

Authors

• Michael Yaw Acheampong, National schools Inspectorate Authority

• Richard Boateng, University of Education, Winneba