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The National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), have revealed that it was becoming nauseating to see government officials brandishing the number of enrollments and the construction of school buildings as a success story in the improvements of education across the country.

The Association is of the view that, it has become fashionable for government officials to seize every opportunity to pontificate government’s commitment to making education available to Ghanaian children at virtually no cost in the country.

“It has also become common to hear that six percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country is spent on education annually.

Various indicators such as enrollment ratio, pupil to teacher ratio, school dropout ratio, gender parity ratio, the number of schools built are presented in support of the claim that government is performing well in the field of education.’’

According to the Association, in spite of all these, Ghana has been quick to append its signatories to international declarations and accords relating to education, such as the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE), the Education for All (EFA) and sustainable Developments Goals (SDGs) among others.

The Association, said all these accords and declarations, have not hidden the truth about the need for the governments to properly finance education.

Speaking at a press conference to deliberate on the state of education financing in the country, Christian Addae-Poku; National President of NAGRAT, noted much of these assertions might be true, but the Association was worried about the failure of the government to release funds for the running
of educational facilities in the country.

Mr. Addae-Poku, enumerated that the FCUBE that was been talked about, dwells on three pillars namely; access and participation, quality teaching and learning, as well as management.

“In the past four years, we have seen government busy putting up a lot of school buildings at various places, some of which we have serious issues with but will leave them for another forum. We have also seen the procurement of vehicles for some senior high schools and the distribution of which we have issues too”, NAGRAT said

Mr. Addae-Poku, said the government has failed woefully in providing funds for the running of the facilities, both old and new.
Of what use are these facilities if you can provide them and cannot provide funds needed for administering the schools he questioned.

He added that the amount of money that the government allocated for various purposes in educational institutions and directorates are ridiculous and somewhat irritating, to say the least.

According to the President of the Association, flanged by other executive members, the government has worsened the situation by failing to pay or delay subventions.

It is worthy to note that the governments continue to pride itself as spending between 23 percent and 30 percent of the national budget on education however; schools and district offices of education remain in sorry state across the regions.

These, have accounted for the low performances at basic and senior high levels of education in the country, adding that the government has consistently failed to pay the subvention that should cover the cost of educational activities.