The 2014 Citizens? Assessment Report on the Capitation Grant Scheme has called on the Ministry of Education (MoE) and the Ghana Education Service (GES) to find a way of facilitating a more reliable and predictable release of the grant from the Ministry of Finance to schools at the beginning of the academic year.
The report, which was conducted by the National Development Planning Commission with support from the United Nations Children?s Fund and released in Tamale, suggested that the undue delay in releasing the grant was the biggest concern of heads of schools and their staff as it undermined the performance of the grant.
It also cited the amount paid per child, saying it was usually far short of the grant per capita for management of a school.
The Capitation Grant Scheme is one of the welfare policies being implemented by the government to eliminate extra fees and charges at the basic school level in the country.
The report mentioned some of the recommendations of parents and teachers to improve the administration of the grant which included an increase of the total amount allocated to the capitation grant and the determination of a base amount to all schools according to need in addition to the grant per child.
The report observed that with the capitation grant scheme coupled with other existing welfare policies in education such as school feeding and the free school uniforms, the increase in enrolment would put pressure on existing school infrastructure and personnel.
It said heads of schools had complained that this was already compromising the quality of class management and instruction and suggested that MoE and GES needed to give attention to the expansion of existing infrastructure, increase teacher recruitment, and redistribute staff to under-staffed areas.
Source : GNA/newsghana.com.gh
