Govt will absorb exam fees for JHS students - Ofori-Atta
The government will, starting from the 2017/18 academic year, fully absorb Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) registration fees for all public junior high school (JHS) students, the Minister of Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, has said.
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According to him, the government would also continue to subsidise the registration fees for private JHS students.
Presenting the 2017 Budget Statement in Parliament last Thursday, Mr Ofori-Atta said subsidy for the registration cost for 460,900 candidates for the 2016 BECE was provided.
In 2017, provision for the payment of 70 per cent of BECE registration fees for 467,692 public and private candidates would be made, he added.
Capitation Grant
The government, he said, initiated fee-free basic education with the introduction of the capitation grant in 2005, with an annual per capita grant amount of GH¢3, which was increased to GH¢4.50 in 2009.
He said the prevailing high cost of living had since rendered that amount insufficient, compelling schools to charge levies, thereby making it difficult for children from poor backgrounds to participate fully in basic education.
The situation was further compounded by the introduction of levies by district assemblies to support the running of schools.
Measures
“To make basic education truly free and ensure participation by all, the government will introduce the following measures from the first term of the 2017/18 academic year: increase the capitation grant by 100 per cent from GH¢4.50 to GH¢9 per child per annum; introduce equity in government support to schools by restructuring the disbursement of capitation to introduce equal amounts of base grant to be paid to all schools at the beginning of the academic year; disburse 50 per cent of total capitation as base grant and the remaining 50 per cent on per capita basis,” he indicated.
According to Mr Ofori-Atta, the government would also initiate a review of existing legislation in order to discontinue with any form of levying, including parent\teacher association (PTA) dues in public basic schools.
“The government continued with the implementation of other social intervention programmes by providing 209,415 school uniforms and 30,000 ‘made in Ghana’ leather school sandals for pupils in selected deprived communities. In 2017, the government will continue with the programme by procuring and distributing 250,000 school uniforms and 40,000 sandals for the pupils,” he added.
TVAET
The minister said technical, vocational and agricultural education and training (TVAET) had enormous potential in driving Ghana’s economy forward through skills and job training; the development of skills for industry, among others.
He, however, observed that these had not been realised, as the required policy, legal and institutional setting, as well as investment, had not received the needed attention.
“To coordinate investment for the development of TVAET as the driver of our industrialisation agenda, the government will align the over 200 public TVAET institutions under the Ministry of Education to provide policy direction in the development of skills for industry.
“Aligning all National Vocational Training institutions (NVTI), Integrated Community Centres for Employable Skills (ICCES), Opportunity Industrialisation Centres (OIC), youth training centres, community development centres, among others, under the Ministry of Education will facilitate sector development through improved coordination and standardisation, policy coherence and targeted support for expansion. The rest are effective resource mobilisation and uniform accreditation, training and certification,” the minister said.
