The Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch), an esteemed education think tank, has issued a challenge to political parties, urging them to develop purposeful interventions in their manifestos aimed at closing the rural-urban gap in basic education. This call comes in light of longstanding disparities in resource allocation, resulting in inferior educational quality and academic performance in rural areas.
Mr. Kofi Asare, the Executive Director of Eduwatch, emphasized in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that basic schools in rural communities have historically faced neglect in resource distribution. This neglect manifests in various forms, including inadequate infrastructure, shortage of teachers, and insufficient textbooks, and teaching materials, among other challenges. Furthermore, the absence of Junior High Schools in some rural areas contributes to a significant dropout rate after primary education.
Asare highlighted the unacceptable nature of this status quo, emphasizing that it perpetuates a cycle of discrimination against rural students. He stressed that education, touted as a tool for poverty eradication and societal transformation, cannot itself be a source of discrimination.
The Eduwatch director urged the forthcoming government to prioritize allocating resources to disadvantaged schools, thereby levelling the educational playing field. He advocated for higher capitation grants and teacher deployments to rural schools, arguing that this would eliminate the need for preferential treatment or “protocol allocations” for access to better schools.