By Alhaji Alhasan Abdulai
All succeeding governments in Ghana have been placing premium to education by promising to facilitate education for all. Indeed universal education for all is one of the United Nations areas of priority that is yet to be achieved. Again there is an unwritten law that requires all parents in Ghana to send their children to school and provide them the needed support. There are some people with the opinion that parents who refuse to send their children to school must be apprehended and punished.
But all parents would have to overcome the hurdle of ?pulling?? out? heavy cash to push their children through early childhood education in government and private schools across the country. If the bitter experience people go through in this area is anything to go by ?many parents cannot send their children to school. Parents being traders?, daily wage earners and government workers receive paychecks not even enough for their household feeding and the payment of rents and utilities.? Because they are not able to save part of their earnings, most parents are not able to support their wards in school. This leads to hundreds of thousands of children growing up in Ghana without going to school ending up with little or no ??education at all. Most of them resort to selling dog chains, along our streets or become wayward.
The Ministries of Education, Gender Children and Social Protection, Parliament, child right coalitions and religious leaders have a responsibility to endeavor to conduct studies into this issue with the view to finding solution to it. A national education fund could be established to solicit for funds internally and from foreign sources to support all the kids who cannot be supported fully or partially by their parents. This is because it is the right of all children to go to school whether or not their parents are poor and can?t afford to pay their fees. The fund must therefore be meant for those children whose parents are poor and needy. In most of the early childhood schools in Accra and other parts of the country the average fees for early childhood schools range from ghc300 to ghc1000 per term. Apart from that parents and guardians of the children are required to buy books, provide chairs, toys, footballs, daily feeding cash per child, soap, and many items that together? ?are very expensive. There is nothing wrong in parents footing the bills of their school going kids especially in the early days of their schooling. However not many parents can afford the high bills charged in the schools. Education which is meant for all therefore becomes the preserve of those who can afford to pay high school bills. As said earlier the earlier the president and ministries of education, gender children and social protection have the responsibility to act on this sensitive issue before it gets out of hand
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
EANFOWORLD FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
- O. BOX 17070 ACCRA NORTH; LOCATION ASHONGMAN ESTATES
