CAPCOE welcomes education allocation in 2026 budget but warns teacher welfare gaps threaten learning outcomes

The Campaign Against Privatisation and Commercialisation of Education (CAPCOE) has welcomed the government’s 2026 budget allocation to the education sector, describing it as a positive signal for strengthening teacher preparation and improving learning outcomes.

Reacting to the budget statement, CAPCOE Convener Richard Kwashie Kovey said the allocation represented progress, but warned that meaningful improvement would depend on addressing long-standing welfare challenges faced by teachers, particularly conditions of service, infrastructure deficits and professional support.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency, Mr Kovey noted that public sector workers, including teachers, are set to receive a nine percent salary adjustment in 2026. He illustrated that a teacher earning GHS 3,000 would see a nominal increase of GHS 270 before tax and statutory deductions, while senior staff earning about GHS 7,000 would gain a pre-tax increase of GHS 630.

He stressed that, unlike other public sector categories, teachers receive no allowances for accommodation, extra duty, risk, utilities, transport, fuel or dress. These expenses, he said, are absorbed from their basic salaries, eroding their real income.

He added that the average rent for a single room with a porch in urban centres now hovers around GHS 400, a situation that forces many teachers into high-interest loans and contributes to learning poverty due to financial distress.

Despite these concerns, Mr Kovey commended government for allocating GHS 33.3 billion from the consolidated fund and an additional GHS 9.9 billion from the GETFund, bringing the total education sector allocation to GHS 43.2 billion.

He encouraged policymakers to identify alternative funding for the no-fee stress policy for first-year tertiary students, rather than relying on GETFund resources. He further recommended freezing GETFund allocations to the Students’ Loan Trust Fund and scholarships, redirecting the full accruals to address pressing infrastructural needs across all levels of education.

Mr Kovey highlighted what he called a long-awaited breakthrough: government’s commitment of GHS 2 billion for the construction of 600 new basic schools, comprising 200 KG blocks, 200 six-unit primary blocks and 200 three-unit junior high school blocks, targeted at deprived communities without public schools.

He revealed that 5,400 schools nationwide still operate under trees or in dilapidated structures, while many schools in Greater Accra‘s urban and peri-urban communities continue to run shift systems due to severe congestion.

Looking ahead, he urged that the 2027 budget prioritise expanding basic and secondary infrastructure to eliminate schools under trees in the short to medium term and phase out both shift and double-track systems.