CHILDREN’S
RIGHTS IN THE
EDUCATION
SYSTEM IN
GHANA
Karen Pieper
International Development Studies
Children’s Rights in the Education System in
Ghana
M.Sc. International Development Studies (MIDS)
Graduate School of Social Sciences
Karen Pieper
Student-Nr.: 12305057
12
July 2019
Supervisor: Dr. Nicky Pouw
Second Reader: Dr. Winny Koster
“Children’s right to education, it is about giving children timeless opportunities to discover who they are. Every day they are given the opportunity to discover and rediscover who they are. It is about giving the children an opportunity to come out in terms of their talents, their abilities, it is about giving the children an opportunity so see their future. It is about using value-based teaching modes to prepare children for a world where more than likely they will only live, but they are going to live with friends but with people from different countries, races. It is about giving the children an opportunity to continue their education after this level and go to the very height of education wherever they want to go. It is about giving the children an opportunity to learn, not only in the school, but outside the school, which means taking them out of the school, to experience other places. It is about giving the children what they need to learn. It is about school supplies and food and nutrition. About giving them good health. Because without this the children cannot learn. It is about making sure all these key indicators are there so that the children can have an all-round, holistic education.”
Acknowledgements
First, I want to thank my supervisor Dr. Nicky Pouw, as well as my second reader Dr. Winny Koster for taking the time to read my thesis and especially Nicky for her support and critical feedback.
Most importantly, I want to thank all the people - including all the children - who participated in my research, and were willing to share their stories with me, which impressed and inspired me throughout the whole process of working on my thesis and will continue to stay with me forever. I specifically want to say thank you to Frederick Zoe Ayensu for introducing me to so many schools and teachers, and constantly taking the time to help me out with anything concerning my research. I also want to thank Foster Asempa Nutsuakor for telling me about the village of Kongo and accompanying me there to conduct my research. Thanks also to Charity Xine and Nurudeen Hassan for being so selfless in helping me with my research and always welcoming me to your schools with open arms. I am furthermore extremely grateful to Eric Kwame Agoe and Paul Mensah Amanor for inspiring me immensely through their stories and their perspectives on life.
Furthermore, I want to thank all the children and the staff at the Potters Village for their daily love and motivation during my time in Ghana, my friends Peter, Junior and Ahovi for reminding me of the importance of education and inspiring me with their motivation and strength of not giving up through any hardship or despair. And thanks to Ameyaw, who constantly impressed me with his diligence and the long hours he spent studying for his BECE.
Lastly, I want to thank my amazing friend Talia for always being there for me during my fieldwork whenever I needed moral support and for sharing the most wonderful memories in the beautiful country of Ghana.
Abstract
The educational system in Ghana has undergone a number of fundamental educational reforms and policies throughout the past decades, which were largely implemented in the pursuit of reducing fundamental entry barriers for children into educational institutions, leading to drastic changes in enrollment numbers, while still excluding large numbers of children, particularly with regards to secondary and tertiary education. One primary aim simultaneously is to highlight the role of children as active subjects within the education sector. This research is conducted against the background of Post-Development Theory, contesting the universal legitimacy and Western bias of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), and aims to promote a community-based approach, based on local values and beliefs as the foundation for children’s rights. Findings are derived from the analysis of data that was gathered through semi-structured in-depth teacher-interviews, observations, and questionnaires that were filled out by students from different primary and secondary schools across different communities in Greater Accra. This research has shown that poverty, ignorance and the circumstance of children not staying with their biological parents constitute the main access barriers to education in Greater Accra. It ultimately demonstrated that differences between urban and rural settings with regards to children’s access to quality education are still prevalent, however it showed that bridges are being built largely due to long-running efforts of teachers to alleviate barriers to education and thereby reducing disparities between children from different regional and social backgrounds. This research has further revealed that the influence of cultural values on children’s participation and access to education is largely dependent upon the location-bound predominance of different values. While a strong work ethic has adverse influence on children’s participation and access to education, the most commonly cherished values across the region, encompassing values within the category of ‘good morals’, e.g. respect and discipline, were not identified as having significant influence on participation or access to education for children.
Key words: Children’s Rights, Participation, Education, Access to Education, Education Barriers, UNCRC, Ghana
Content
1. INTRODUCTION ... 1
1.1. Background ... 1 1.2. Problem Statement ... 2 1.3. Knowledge Gap ... 4 1.4. Research Objective ... 4 1.5. Research Approach ... 5 1.6. Thesis Outline ... 72. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ... 8
2.1. Introduction ... 8 2.2. Concept of Urbanization ... 8 2.3. Concept of Culture ... 9 2.4. Conclusion ... 123. RESEARCH DESIGN ... 13
3.1. Introduction ... 133.2. Main Research Question and Sub-questions ... 13
3.3. Unit of Analysis and Unit of Observation ... 13
3.3.1. Unit of Analysis ... 14 3.3.2. Unit of Observation ... 14 3.4. Methodology ... 14 3.4.1. Data Collection ... 14 3.4.2. Sampling ... 16 3.4.3. Data Analysis... 16
3.5.1. Positionality ... 17
3.5.2. Ethical Considerations ... 17
3.6. Assessing the Quality of the Research ... 18
3.7. Conclusion ... 19
4. RESEARCH CONTEXT ... 20
4.1. Introduction ... 20
4.2. Research Locations ... 20
4.3. Previous Education Reforms ... 21
4.4. Ghana’s Educational System Today ... 23
4.4.1. Educational Structure ... 23
4.5. Free SHS Policy ... 23
4.5.1. Objectives and Organizational Structures ... 24
4.5.2. Enrollment Trends ... 25
4.6. Conclusion ... 26
5. CULTURAL VALUES AND BELIEFS AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON THE
EDUCATION SYSTEM ... 27
5.1. Introduction ... 27
5.2. Culture Values and Responsibilities ... 27
5.2.1. Approach ... 27
5.2.2. Cultural Values within Greater Accra ... 28
5.2.3. Influence from the Community ... 31
5.2.4. Parent’s and Children’s Responsibilities... 31
5.2.4.1. Parent’s Responsibilities ... 32
5.2.4.2. Children’s Responsibilities ... 32
5.2.5. Children and Work ... 33
6. INFLUENCE OF URBANIZATION ON CHILDREN’S RIGHT TO EDUCATION ... 35
6.1. Introduction ... 35
6.2. Rural-Urban-Classification of the Research Locations ... 35
6.3. Children’s Right to Education... 38
Children’s Views on the Importance of Education ... 39
6.4. Access and Access Barriers to Education ... 40
6.4.1. Access to Education ... 40
6.4.2. Access Barriers to Education ... 41
6.5. Conclusion ... 47
7. THE INFLUENCE OF POLICY REFORMS ON CHILDREN’S ACCESS AND
PARTICIPATION IN THE EDUCATION SECTOR ... 48
7.1. Introduction ... 48
7.2. Influence of Previous Education Policies ... 48
7.2.1. Free Education Policy ... 48
7.2.2. Ban on Corporal Punishment ... 50
7.2.3. Policy Implications of Educational Reforms on Cultural Values ... 53
7.3. Implementation of the Free Senior High School in Greater Accra ... 54
7.3.1. Positive Voices ... 54
7.3.2. Negative Voices ... 55
7.3.3. “Free” SHS ... 57
7.4. Influences on Academic Performance ... 58
7.5. Policy Recommendations ... 60
7.6. Conclusion ... 61
8. CONCLUSION ... 62
8.1. Answer to the Main Research Question ... 62
8.3. Reflection Methodology ... 64
8.4. Research Recommendations and Further Research ... 64
9. REFERENCES ... 66
I
List of Tables and Figures
FIGURE 1:WOMEN AND MEN HAVING HAD EDUCATION ... 2
FIGURE 2:PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOL NET ATTENDANCE RATIOS FOR THE DE FACTO HOUSEHOLD POPULATION NET ATTENDANCE RATIOS FOR THE DE FACTO HOUSEHOLD POPULATION ... 3
FIGURE 3:FREQUENCY OF BRINGING HOME TEXTBOOKS AND OTHER READING MATERIALS FROM SCHOOL (SOURCE: DHSPROGRAM,2014) ... 4
FIGURE 4:DO YOU BELIEVE EVERY CHILD SHOULD GO TO SCHOOL? ... 40
FIGURE 5:CHILDREN HAVING TO WORK DUE TO POVERTY ... 43
FIGURE 6:CHILDREN HAVING TO WORK DUE TO NOT STAYING WITH THEIR BIOLOGICAL PARENTS ... 43
FIGURE 7:"WORK" VS.WORK ... 44
FIGURE 8:HAVING ENOUGH TIME AFTER SCHOOL TO DO HOMEWORK ... 45
II
Abbreviations
BECE Basic Education Certificate Examination F-CUBE Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education FGM Female Genital Mutilation
GES Ghana Education Services GSS Ghana Statistical Service
ILO International Labour Organization JHS Junior High School
JSS Junior Secondary School MOE Ministry of Education
NCLS Nineteenth International Conference of Labour NPP New Patriotic Party
UN United Nations
UNCRC United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child PTA Parent-Teacher-Association
SAP Sector Adjustment Program SHS Senior High School
TLMs Teaching and Learning Materials
WASSCE The West African Senior School Certificate Examination YRE Year-Round-Education
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1. Introduction
“Human rights are like air. Until they're taken away, you don't know what you have. You only realize how necessary they are once the air is taken away and
you can no longer breath.” - Matthew Caruana Galizia, Malta1
There are close similarities between the underlying principles of human rights and children’s rights, as illustrated by the quote above, which was part of the series “What are human rights?” of the 2018 Human Rights Defenders World Summit (Amnesty International, 2018). The particularity with regards to children’s rights, however, is the high significance and predominant association of vulnerability within the discussion of children’s right in relative contrast to human rights. The following chapter is divided into six sub-chapters, through which the reader will get an overview of the background of this research and the empirical evidence that underpins the significance of the topic of this research. Following this, the knowledge gap in scholarly literature, as well as the research objectives will be presented before the chapter closes with a brief summary of the further thesis outline.
1.1.
Background
Based on the educational objectives within the National Constitution from 1992, Ghana’s government has committed itself to the implementation of the “FCUBE” within a ten-year time-frame, that is the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (The Constitution, Art. 38 (2)). It is thereby in the hands of the Ghana Education Service (GES) to safeguard the comprehensive implementation, of not only the FCUBE, but likewise all pre-tertiary levels of education throughout the country, which have been integrated into the policy on Free Education, while ensuring an implementation “irrespective of tribe, gender, disability, religious and political affiliations”, as defined in its official mandate (GES, 2019). Against the background of this policy, the number of out-of-school children is still prevalently high on national average, as only 69.9 % of children attend primary school, and only 38.5 % of children across the country attend secondary school, based on net attendance ratios of the 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (Ghana Demographic Health Survey, 2014: 29). In September 2017, the NPP-led government under President Nana Akufo Addo has introduced the new policy on Free SHS, which sets out to absorb school fees for secondary education for every qualified child in Ghana, and shortly after started its implementation across the country (FreeSHS Policy Ghana, 2018).
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1.2. Problem Statement
While Ghana’s population has witnessed numerous changes in educational policies and has achieved “quality improvements” (Adu-Gyamfi, 2016: 171) along its way, there are still noticeable issues of concern with regards to the Ghanaian education system, which cannot be ignored. While the overall trend goes towards a noticeable increase in the population share of women and men (between age 15-49) who have had education – 81% of women and 91% of men in 2014, compared to 65% of women and 78% of men in 1993 (Ghana Demographic and Health Survey, 2014) (Figure 1) – these numbers do not disclose a classification of the precise levels of education behind the overall category of “having had education”, which offers room for huge discrepancies in its interpretations.
Figure 1: Women and Men having had education
The distinction between different levels of education is particularly relevant in the Ghanaian context, which is due to differences between urban and rural areas, and moreover immense differences in school attendance within the respective levels of education across the country, with enrollment numbers dropping almost half following the transition from primary to secondary school in both urban and rural settings, as shown in the figure below (Figure 2).
65%
78% 81%
91%
1 9 9 3 2 0 1 4
WOMEN AND MEN HAVING HAD EDUCATION
3
Figure 2: Primary and secondary school net attendance ratios for the de facto household population net attendance ratios for the de facto household population
This results in total numbers of 300,000 out-of-school children across the country, combined with the reported number of up to 400,000 children, that do not have qualified knowledge in Math and English after completing primary school (DHS Program, 2014). The majority of the affected children are identified as coming from poor rural homes, ethnic or linguistic minorities and/or live in the Northern regions of the country, most commonly in rural areas (Darvas & Balwanz, 2014: xi). It is further documented, that the pervasive inequalities between children based on their background is reflected in both children’s access to school and the subsequent distribution of learning outcomes (Darvas & Balwanz, 2014: 1). The 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey further identified that 29% of children aged 4 – 15 never bring home any textbooks or other reading materials from school, indicating towards a tremendous lack of sufficient supply and/or an unequal distribution of learning materials at schools across the country. Children’s answers to the question of how often they bring home textbooks or any other learning materials from school are portrayed in more detail in the pie chart below (Figure 3).
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Figure 3: Frequency of bringing home textbooks and other reading materials from school (Source: DHS Program,
2014)
The above-mentioned enrollment numbers in primary and secondary levels of education are of particular relevance in light of this research, as they have to be seen against the background of numerous education reforms and the country’s overall policy on Free Education, which will be presented in the second sub-chapter of Chapter 4.
1.3. Knowledge Gap
There is a lack in scholarly literature with regards to the link between the concept of culture - its influence on policy reforms and their combined influence on poverty - to conceptions around the term urbanization, based on a multiplicity of definitions of “the urban” by numerous scholars, and moreover the overall interrelation between the concepts of culture, urbanization and education. The distinctiveness of this research therefore lies in adding the element of culture – closely associated with discourse - as a determining variable to the concept of urbanization to analyze its influence on education. “Education” here refers to the overall predominant perspective on education in its conceptualization, as well as in its empirical experience, particularly with regards to children’s participation and access, as well as subsequently access-barriers to education.
1.4. Research Objective
The aim of this research is the identification of determining factors in children’s participation and access to education. This research will specifically examine the role of culture and cultural values on the discourse on education throughout the research communities in order to analyze any possible correlations between the two concepts. Culture and education shall furthermore be seen distinctively within the framework of urbanization. Therefore, an additional objective is the examination of place-bound influences on education based on respective levels of urbanization. Urbanization is here to be understood not as the dynamic process behind the term (McGranahan, 2015: 959), but rather the
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current “solidified” state of a place within the theoretically defined frame of different stages that normally constitute the process leading to the urbanization of a place. Against this background, the feasibility and appropriateness of the 2017 implementation of the Free SHS policy within Greater Accra will be discussed in Chapter 7, with particular regards to the policy’s official objectives.
This research’s objectives will ultimately be pursued on the basis of Post-Development theory; contesting the dominant discourse on children’s rights set out by the UNCRC through emphasizing the context-specific perspectives on children’s rights (regarding children’s participation and access to education), rather than regarding the UNCRC as the universal standard for children’s rights, applicable to every place regardless its context-specific characteristics. The ultimate implied objective underlying therefore is the elimination of children’s access barriers to education through a focus on the cultural dimension of education by identifying cultural values of utmost significance with regards to children’s access to education.
1.5. Research Approach
“Post-colonial policy discourses in education have continued to be influenced by discourses from beyond Ghana’s shores. As importantly, Ghana’s practices and discourses in education have influenced discourses beyond Ghana’s shores, and
not only in the West Africa region.” Angela W. Little2
International children’s rights discourses are centered on the principles of child protection and participation. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which has been adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on the 20th November 1989 and since been widely ratified by almost every country (with the exception of the United States and Somalia), provides a global framework addressing the rights of children. It is thereby the most ratified human rights treaty on a global level (Odera, 2017). The child rights discourse is overshadowed by a considerable lack of critical reflection of the legitimacy of contemporary dominant children’s rights as a set norm for dealing and interacting with children (Reynard et al., 2009: 528). This research will address the issue of the difficulty of determining rules and regulations of global scope and seemingly “universal” nature, while simultaneously regarding rights-based and social-justice approaches that take the multiplicity of different contexts worldwide in to considerable account. Due to existing hierarchical power structures on a global level, dominant rules and regulations quickly constitute a framework that appears both of universal validity and static nature to the outside world. The last section of the UNCRC’s preamble underlines the significance that is meant to be put on context-specific traditions and cultural values for the realization of children’s rights:
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“(…) the importance of the traditions and cultural values of each people for the protection and harmonious development of the child, Recognizing the importance of international cooperation for improving the living conditions of children in every country, in particular in the developing countries, (…)” (UNICEF, 1989).
One of the major critique points regarding the UNCRC is its Western bias, which hence dominates the global discourse on children’s rights and can arguably be seen as one of the reasons for the great challenge up until today to achieve positive impact on every child, regardless of its background (Oppong Twum-Danso, 2008). Additionally, children’s views are often in striking opposition to the dominant children’s rights discourse, which is due to their different perception of their own situation, that subsequently points towards the significance of considering the parallel validity of a multiplicity of perspectives and opinions of one situation. There is further countless evidence of critical voices that have questioned the unreflective adoption of foreign policies and ideas to the general African context, relating particularly to education and education systems (Craig, 1990, Eshiwani, 1990, Achola, 1990; Dei, 2014: 33).
Against this background, this research will be approached from a Post-Development standpoint, which enables the contestation of the universal legitimacy of children’s rights by the UNCRC. Post-Development theory will hereinafter consequently be used based on its classification as an important approach to development as defined by Escobar and Harcourt (2018), which allows for the recognition of different realities, biases and opinions, subsequently refraining from the belief of a single objective reality. With Edward Said’s Orientalism from 1978, one of the initial keystones for the approach of Post-Development already laid the foundation for emphasizing the importance of regarding Orientalism specifically as a discourse with regards to Foucault (Said, 1978). Only through this practice, the universal character of UN rights conventions becomes apparent, particularly through breaking down the multiplicity of diverging iterations, that continuously keep the discourse alive through process of everyday life (Corbridge, 2007: 184). Escobar meanwhile concentrated on pointing out the significance of difference and hybridity in order to fight back the “imprisoning architecture of developmentalism” (Corbridge, 2007: 185). The construction of the Post-Development approach based on Said’s Orientalism can be regarded similar in its construction as the discourse on Development. Both interlinked concepts are built upon a “new perception of one’s own self […]”, through which “the other was suddenly created” (Esteva, 2010: 2). It is further important to notice, that the formulation of rights must consistently be seen as an ongoing and dynamic process. Therefore, rights are never of sheer static normative nature but continuously evolving dynamically in response to changing global conditions and challenges (Mutua, 2007: 620).
The UNCRC is based on four general principles of children's rights: best interest of the child, non-discrimination, participation, and survival and development of the child (KNH, 2017). Children’s “Right to Participate” is one of the four general principles underpinning the comprehensive set of
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children’s rights. Since active participation of children is up until this day not seen as fundamentally implicit around the world, this research will be built on the underlying aim of promoting children’s participation. Children’s ability to participate is not only beneficial for the child, but it subsequently adds beneficial value to the family, the community, the school, the nation and eventually to democracy: “Providing space and inclusive opportunities for expression, information sharing, association and participation in decision making empowers children and young people as active citizens” (O' Kane, 2017). Implementing and reinforcing children's participation improves the personal development of children in diverse contexts and contributes to their protection while overall leading to the fulfillment of children's rights around the globe (O' Kane, 2017).
1.6. Thesis Outline
The next paragraph will give a brief overview of the structure of the following chapters of this thesis. Chapter 2 will present the main concepts of this research that constitute the underlying theoretical framework. Chapter 3 presents the research design as the basis for the fieldwork, that was conducted as part of this research and Chapter 4 introduces the reader to the research context by giving a brief description of the four research locations before presenting an overview on the Ghanaian education system, as well as most relevant past and present educational reforms. Chapter 5 will discuss local perception of children’s rights and additionally present research findings in relation to culture and culture-bound rights- and responsibilities. Chapter 6 focuses on the influence that urbanization has on children’s rights to education and discusses children’s access and access barriers to education. Before a final conclusion to the main research question will be given in Chapter 8, the influence of educational policy reforms on children’s access to education will be analyzed in Chapter 7.
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2.
Theoretical Framework
2.1. Introduction
This chapter will present the theoretical framework, constituting the basis for this research. In order to give the reader a basic understanding of the main concepts relevant for this research, the concepts of urbanization and culture will be introduced in the following.
2.2. Concept of Urbanization
“Urban” and “rural” commonly appear as two categories, which are commonly used quite intuitively, without much thought given to its actual scientific meaning. Based on McGranahan (2015: 958), there are different dimensions to “the urban” and “the rural”, making the distinct definition of universally accepted categories of “the urban” and “the rural” increasingly more difficult. When it comes to basic criteria for the classification of “urban” and “rural” applicable on an international scale, there is no consensus between countries. This is due to national differences concerning the determinants constituting the boundaries of “the urban” and “the rural”, reinforced by the growing gap between population sizes on an international scale, which makes the achievement of a global consensus on universal criteria increasingly more difficult (McGranahan, 2015: 959). What is now commonly regarded as urban or rural is influenced by traditional distinctions, which have been passed down through generations. These are centered around the idea that “the urban” comes with a renewed way of life in comparison to the rather traditional rural areas (UN Statistics Division, 2014). This distinction is largely based on lifestyle characteristics, subsequently refraining from exclusively focusing on population size as decisive criteria, which is solely based on quantitative data. There is no single official definition for “urban” and “rural”, that is accepted and applicable for all countries, neither on a global scale, nor for neighboring countries, resulting in countries having to create and implement their own definitions for urban and rural (UN Statistics Division, 2014).
The urbanization report by the Ghana Statistical Service from 2014 defines an “urban area” as an area with a population of over 5,000, which is since used as the standard classification for urban areas on a national level (GSS, 2014: 3). However, it further strongly advises against the use of a single criteria for the classification of an urban area and suggests adding functional criteria to the classification, thereby additionally measuring economic activities of a population (GSS, 2014: 4). The GSS therefore ultimately presents a definition, which takes both population and functional criteria into account. It thereby defines “the urban” as a place with a population size above 4,999 in combination with a population share of more than 60% in any other but the primary sector (GSS, 2014: 4). Since different levels of urbanization impact quality and access to education in different ways, the importance and the power of understanding context and underlying structures of a place
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are getting enhanced, which becomes particularly relevant within the pursuit of promoting socio-economic change (Dore, 1976; Dei, 2014: 5).
2.3. Concept of Culture
Eagleton (2017:13; Lüddemann, 2019) has already pointed to the fascinating appeal of “culture”, which stems from its common perception as ubiquitous and its endless combinability. The following paragraph aims at defining the concept of culture based on different sources of scholarly knowledge. The term “culture” is used in different interpretations dependent on the respective scientific field. There are two commonalities between the variety of different interpretations however, which are presented by Baumann (2017: 95) as a consensus on what is worthy of imitation and envisioned as long-term valuable on the one hand, and the passing-on of what is already recognized as valuable to future generations on the other hand.
“Culture is a patterned system of knowledge and conception embodied in symbolic and non-symbolic communication modes which a society has evolved from the past, and progressively modified and augmented to give meaning to and cope with the present and anticipated future problems of its existence.” (Bulivant, 1981: 27; Stephens, 2007: 29)
Culture is seen as the opposite of a static system: it is rather seen as a “loosely linked dynamic multilevel system” (Bühl, 1986: 121; Lüddemann, 2019: 6). Based upon this, culture can never be regarded separately from its environment, since it only comes into “existence” as an imaginative formation and structure of metaphors. Based on Stephens (2007: 28), culture can be found on both the individual and the social level, equally concerning the individual and the society. The most feasible quality attributed to the concept of culture in terms of its expression in form of values, topics or procedures, is simultaneously inherently intangible (Kohl, 2000: 132; Lüddemann, 2019: 7). Phrased more clearly: the moment “culture” becomes static, it loses its foundation, its elixir of life, thereby drifting into a state of nonexistence. Once all humans of the environment, in which a particular “culture” has been present, stop the repetition and continuation of discursive elements constituting its culture, it loses the basis on which it is not only constituted, but also repetitively kept alive (Hillebrandt, 2019; Lüddemann, 2019: 8). It is to be distinguished, however, between the complete shift of culture into nonexistence, which occurs in the described manner, and culture losing its progressive and innovative character, but regardless continues to exist through shared and practiced commemoration. Both cultural states are together fundamentally important for the constitution of culture (Orth, 2019; Lüddemann, 2019: 8), referenced as “duality of culture” (Jullien 2017; Lüddemann 2019: 9). The remaining component within Lüddemann’s (2019) definition of culture addresses reflexivity as an additional characteristic of the concept. Reflexivity is commonly defined as the human ability to turn one’s own thinking and acting into objects of reflection (Forster, 2013: 589). Already at the turn of the 19th century, Herder (1744-1803) regarded reflexivity as the
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mental state of prudence (Forster, 2013: 593). Concerning culture, reflexivity is implied as directed at the particular culture itself, simultaneously taking into account the existing familiar culture, as well as “the foreign”, that exists outside of the familiar culture (Lüddemann, 2019: 9). Due to those two constituents of the concept of culture, Baumann (1999; Stephens 2007) describes culture as simultaneously “essential” and “processual”( Baumann, 1999; Stephens, 2007).
Based on this, “culture” is something so inherently constructivist, that research on it automatically becomes very subjective and place-bound. Characteristics of “culture” moreover include the layer of medial perceptions, which translates cultural elements from an abstract dimension into a representative dimension, through which those elements can be perceived with different senses. With regards to this, mention can be made of oral narrations or visual representations (Lüddemann, 2019: 7). Subsequently, mediality, alongside reflexivity, increases the performance and thereby the significance of culture, due to its increased presence within the place-bound sphere of a particular culture, thereby broadening the space for perception and communication (Lüddemann, 2019: 28). Furthermore, as inevitable through its constructivist nature, culture is closely linked to discourse, since common practices constituting discourse can likewise be applied to culture. Steenblock illustrated this by claiming that talking about culture always implies being part of it (Steenblock, 2004:11; Lüddemann, 2019). It becomes evident, that the discussion of culture can never be of objective nature, since it always includes the element of repetition or reproduction. Following this, Willemsen (2016) illustrates culture as a discursive sphere, that constitutes a point of intersection between medial interaction and levels of perception and crossing over by different senses (Willemsen, 2016; Lüddemann, 2019:14). According to An-na’im (1992), there is room to “change a cultural position from within, through internal discourse about the fundamental values of the culture and the rationale for these values”.
Different environments equally shape differences in fundamental understandings of rights. According to Harris-Short (2003: 177), “cultural values and principles of their own cultures may lead communities to look in horror at the individualistic rights-based ethos of the West and seek instead to strengthen and re-trench their own traditional values and beliefs”. In this sense, a geographical setting must inevitably be seen as intertwined with a particular set of defined cultural norms and values, which shape the environment in various dimensions. This is emphasized by van Bueren (1998: 17), who argues that “children’s rights have a better prospect for implementation, if they reflect local cultural beliefs”. It must not be neglected in this context however, that “culture is not monolithic and as a result cannot be viewed as being uniformly distributed or having a uniform impact on all members” (Korbin, 2002: 638). Indeed, culture must instead be regarded as a “conscious construction of a spontaneous outgrowth of community practice” (Bennet, 1998: 3-4). This understanding of culture should in the course of this research serve as the constant underlying
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perspective of the complex concept commonly described as “culture”. Shifting the focus to the construction of culture as an anthropogenic construct illustrates the complexity of this issue. This, in turn, provokes the rise of questions contesting not only global rights discourses but touch upon the construction of seemingly broad concepts, such as culture, on a much deeper level. Hence, it is questionable if, and to what extend community serves as a justified variable, since “culture is not a homogeneous entity that serves the interest of all members of a particular community and some members of a group generally deviate from the norm (Bennet, 1998; Renteln, 2004).
Referring to An-na’im (1992), human rights stand a better chance of implementation if they are perceived to be legitimate within the various different cultural norms, traditions and understandings of the world. Stephens (2007: 18) adds another key aspect to the concept, addressing the reflexive dimension within the concept of culture: “If culture is concerned with meaning, then it is as much the meanings we have of our own engagement with the world, as it is the meaning those we encounter have of their own life and work”. Following this, Stephens (2007: 31) adds that “culture is only meaningful practically if we ground such definition within social and national contexts”. As the connection between culture, education and development is particularly relevant with respect to the research underlying this thesis, Stephens (2007: 25) is placing culture “at the heart of the dynamic that binds education with development”. With regards to Bennet’s (1998) assumption of culture being consciously constituted through community practice, it remains a challenge to intertwine the various elements and intangible parts contributing to shaping what is commonly called “culture” of a particular place (Bennet 1998: 3-4). Since “community practice” is quite a broad term, it thereby entails a multiplicity of aspects and requires the practice of all community members to unconsciously merge together, leading to the constitution of the specific “culture” that defines and characterizes a particular place. This raises the question how children’s rights can be successfully implemented while characteristics and cultural values and beliefs of community members differ to an extend which does not allow for a common culture to be defined? It suggests that van Bueren’s (1998) argumentation for children’s rights to have “a better prospect for implementation if they reflect local cultural beliefs” (1998: 17) to work in theory but leaves the question of applicability of this theory to different contexts unanswered, for instance concerning heterogeneous communities.
Linking the concept of culture to education, Dimmock and Walker (1998: 590; Stephens, 2007: 33) state the following: “As school systems in different continents reconfigure the roles, rules, and relationships between the system parts and introduce particular reforms, the prospect emerges of a uniform, standard world model of the school system. Paradoxically, this internationalization of education policy serves only to heighten the importance of culture… [culture becoming] …a critical residual gaining increased importance”. Over two decades prior to Dimmock and Walker, Stenhouse (1967; Stephens, 2007: 44) had already come to the conclusion, that education was the main transmitter of cultural values through the inclusion of children in the intergenerational transfer of
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valuable elements of culture. He thus stressed the challenge, which constantly weighs on the shoulders of an educational system to ensure the progressive development of culture at its respective point in time (Stenhouse, 1967: 12; Stephens, 2007: 44). He therefore defined schools as “bounded cultural communities shaped by ideological forces from the local to the global” (Stenhouse, 1967: 12; Stephens, 2007: 44).
2.4. Conclusion
Concluding this chapter, it needs to be emphasized that the concept of urbanization will further be specifically defined for this research in Chapter 6, since country-specific classifications shall not be disregarded, particularly taking the underlying Post-Development approach of this research into consideration.
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3. Research Design
3.1. Introduction
The following chapter will present an overview on the research design, which constituted the basis for the process of research conduction during the fieldwork of this research. The first section of this chapter will present the main research question and the three sub-questions. Thereafter, the unit of analysis and the unit of observation will be described before the following section introduces the used research methodology. After that, positionality and ethical considerations will be discussed, and the quality of the research will be assessed prior to ending the chapter with a brief summary of the chapter in its conclusion.
3.2. Main Research Question and Sub-questions
Based on the theoretical framework presented in Chapter 2, this research will examine children’s rights with regards to participation and access to education from a Post-Development standpoint, subsequently contesting the universal discourse on children’s rights set out by the UNCRC. The purpose behind this research is to analyze the influence of cultural elements on children’s education and particularly examine in what way different levels of urbanization contribute to this. Based on that, this research will address the following research question with its subsequent sub-questions: Main Question
In light of the dominant discourse on children’s rights set out by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), how do cultural values and beliefs influence access and participation of children in the education system in rural and urban settings in Ghana?
Sub-questions
1. How is children’s participation in the education system influenced by cultural values and beliefs?
2. How are children’s access and participation in the education system influenced by different levels of urbanization?
3. How are children's access and participation in the education system influenced by policy reforms of the government, particularly the introduction of the Free SHS?
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3.3.1. Unit of Analysis
The unit of analysis of this research is composed of children as one specific group, that constitutes the main entity of the research. It is not the individual child or the individual teacher/headmaster/administrator who is in the focus of the study, but instead children as a group.
3.3.2. Unit of Observation
The research is composed of two main units of observation. The first unit of observation is constituted by teachers and headteachers at different schools in the respective research locations, the second is composed of children between roughly 10 and 18 years. This research primarily addresses children in the upper primary levels (class 5 and 6) and children in JHSs (form 1-3). Being aware of the irregularities within school attendance patterns in Ghana however, research will not exclude children within these school levels that do not fall into the age-ranch of 10 and 18 years, and therefore rather focuses on class levels. This research thus places children at the center of the research and regards them as active and participating subjects of society and subsequently aims to follow a bottom-up approach throughout the whole research.
3.4. Methodology
This research was conducted on the basis of applying mixed methods in order to receive a broader and more in-depth perspective of the entire field of research, combined with the purpose of offering stakeholders various ways to express their view to let them chose to express their views in the way they feel most comfortable in.
3.4.1. Data Collection
Prior to conducting this research, it was intended to collect data through the exclusive use of qualitative methods. Upon arrival in the field and piloting the intended methods in one of the research locations, it was decided to add quantitative methods to the entirety of methods used for this research.
Semi-structured In-depth Interviews
It was made use of qualitative methods through the use of semi-structured in-depth interviews with teachers and headteachers at different schools throughout the four research locations across Greater Accra. This was done with the aim of finding out about teacher’s personal perspective on children’s rights, children’s access and access barriers to education, their personal experience around
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education, both in the respective community in which they were now working, as well as throughout their previous lives, their opinion on past changed in the national educational system and the most recent implementation of the Free SHS policy. The interviews were semi-structured, following a pre-defined structure of set questions (Appendix III), while leaving adequate room for additional questions. Conception and conduction of the interviews was based on Atteslander’s (2010: 315) definition of semi-structured interviews, that is characterized by the duality of a set framework composed of pre-formulated questions, which is then extended by an additional number of variable and impulsive questions (Atteslander, 2010: 315).
Due to their underlying semi-structured methodology, interviews further allowed for alternative areas of focus within the different interviews, dependent upon the individual interviewee. Subsequently, interviews did not have a pre-defined ending, but instead ended once the point of saturation was believed to be reached.
In total, 46 teachers were interviewed during 43 interviews, which were conducted with a maximum number of two interviewees at the same time.
- 40 interviews were individual interviews, while three were conducted with each two respondents
- Interviews were conducted in specified number at the following research locations.
Research has only been conducted at a single school in Kongo due to it being the only school in the village (see Appendix I):
o Ashaiman: 8 (at three different schools) o Dodowa: 7 (at three different schools) o Ayikuma: 23 (at six different schools) o Kongo: 5 (at one school)
Questionnaires
Quantitative methods based on Meier Kruker & Rauh (2005: 84) were used to add a second epistemological angle to the research. This was done in the form of questionnaires, which were given out to children in the upper primary and children in JHSs.
The structure and design of questionnaires was developed with a particular focus on child orientation in order to ensure that all children fully understand each question of the questionnaire. This was ensured through the participation of children in the process of the conception of the questionnaire, particularly through the joint and playful translation of the initial set of questions within the questionnaire, which led to a rough impression of children’s basic understanding of the asked questions.
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Questionnaires were filled out by a total number of 441 children across the four research locations. The exact number of questionnaires, which were filled out by children in each respective research location is indicated in the following:
- Ashaiman: 95 - Dodowa: 100 - Ayikuma: 194 - Kongo: 52 Participant Observation
Based on Bryman’s (2008: 257) aim of taking notice and recording in as much detail as possible of the surrounding environment, observations have been carried out throughout the entire duration of the fieldwork for this research. Daily contact and interaction with children, adults and teachers was made possible through the simultaneous stay and work at a “home for children” in Dodowa, which was further running an unregistered private primary school. This allowed many detailed insights, among other things, into the Ghanaian culture and their way of living, their educational system, daily challenges and struggles, various perspectives on many issues around education, children, work, and life in general throughout the entire time period of the fieldwork.
3.4.2. Sampling
Participants for the research were selected based on the principles of snowball sampling within the field. Contacts to new respondents and new schools were primarily established through recommendations and introductions of participants.
3.4.3. Data Analysis
Collected data from the field was after the completion of the fieldwork research analyzed through the use of different programs as presented in the following.
Qualitative Data Analysis with Atlas.ti
Subsequent to transcribing all interviews which were conducted during the fieldwork for this research, the data analysis software Atlas.ti was used to organize the interviews through coding them in respect to the relevant topics for this research. Due to the number of interviews and its length of transcripts, Atlas.ti proofed to be a very useful tool for handling qualitative data.
Quantitative Data Analysis with SPSS-Statistics
The statistics- and analysis software SPSS-Statistics was used to organize and analyze the data collected through the questionnaires. Since some questions within the questionnaire were of
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qualitative nature (see Appendix III), Microsoft Excel was further used as an additional software to organize the data prior to converting all information gathered from the questionnaires into numerical data readable by SPSS-Statistics.
3.5. Positionality and Ethical Considerations
3.5.1. Positionality
The only possibility is a descriptive assessment of the current status quo with regards to children's rights based upon a set of indicators strictly comparing the similarities and difficulties within and between the perspective and the status quo of children's rights in different places around the globe. Particularly against the background of contesting the Western bias of the UNCRC, it is of great importance to constantly be aware of one’s own positionality to remain objective within the given frame of the research.
3.5.2. Ethical Considerations
Looking back on the research it is key to emphasize ethical considerations. Therefore, there are five particular principals, which will be examined in closer detail in the following: voluntary participation, informed consent, safety in participation, confidentiality and trust.
In order to ensure both voluntary participation and informed consent among participants of this research, it was made sure the content and aim of the research was explain to the full understanding to all participants, both adults and children before they were asked to participate. Only after being informed about key characteristics of the research and being given the opportunity to ask all sorts of questions, participants were asked whether they were willing to participate in the research, as well as subsequently (in the case for the teachers) for consent towards the recording of interviews. The former part was likewise done prior to conducting research on the basis of questionnaires as the second methodology used for data collection for this research. An additional aspect which needed to be considered in order to ensure voluntary and informed consent was the use of language in the sense that it did not function as a barrier between researcher and participants. English is the official language in Ghana and therefore used as written and spoken language in schools – where most of the research was conducted – which is the reason why English was chosen as the language to conduct this research. It was made sure that participants safety was secured both during and after their participation in the research. Due to the underlying concepts of this research, the inclusion of children was regarded as essential and impossible to omit. Given the possibility of language still constituting a barrier, plus children’s likeliness to not be able to fully comprehend the content and their role within the research, the participation of children was handled with extra caution and awareness. All participants were certainly guaranteed confidentiality. This was done through
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explaining that all data would be handled with complete confidentiality, particularly in the following research process, prior to their participation in this research.
Additionally, awareness and discussion of the researchers positionality within the research was emphasized. With regards to this, both the researches background in International Development Studies, as well as the “role” as a white woman conducting research in an African country must be mentioned. The latter was particularly important to be in constant awareness of during the fieldwork research, since it was accompanied with certain privileges, which were highlighted due to environment and subsequent predominant living standards of the research locations.
3.6. Assessing the Quality of the Research
With the aim of emphasizing the importance of ensuring research quality, an assessment of the quality of the presented research will be made based on the criteria for quantitative and qualitative research by Bryman (2012), which focuses on reliability and validity as its two main criteria. Bryman defines both criteria according to the research’s methodology being quantitative or qualitative. Since this research is built upon both quantitative and qualitative data, its criteria will be assessed successively. With regards first to quantitative research, reliability is relating to issues of consistency of measures, while validity questions an indicator’s or a set of indicators ability to measure the concept it was set out to measure (Bryman 2012: 149). Reliability in more detail concerns stability, internal reliability and inter-observer consistency. Referring to the former, stability, with regard to consistent measurement over time, could not be recorded due to the scope of this research. Internal reliability and inter-observer consistency have to be reflected critically, since it cannot be certain that the children who filled out the questionnaires for sure understood all questions they were being asked, plus all interpreted the questions in the same way. The validity of the research findings is divided into face validity, concurrent validity and predictive validity (Brymann 2012: 150). Face validity is given in the research, concurrent validity points towards the differences between the respondent’s backgrounds, which are numerous, however their different place of residency (with regards to its level of urbanization) is of particular concern in the light of the research. With regards to the external reliability of the study for the qualitative side of the research, it can be said that the research can indeed be replicated both in the same place - for instance over a longer time period - or in a different setting. Since I have been the only observer within this research, there is no doubt about internal reliability. Looking at the validity of the conducted qualitative data, I believe that both internal and external validity can be found within this research, however further analysis of the findings is needed to fully be able to prove specifically the internal validity of the research. I think external validity of the research can be difficult, since I find it generally problematic to simply transfer research findings from one specific social setting to a different setting, disregarding particular characteristics of the different settings. In addition, I believe that only way higher numbers in
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participants and respondents would even allow for a generalization of data. Since the research is based on empirical findings, I am convinced of its ecological validity as well.
3.7. Conclusion
With regards to the focus on the empirical work of this research, the relevance of this chapter becomes apparent. It is especially important to keep the distribution of research participants in mind, that is found in section four, not only with regards to numbers, but also to each respective research location. On a different notice, it needs to be addressed that due to privacy concerns and child protection measures, children’s names will not be mentioned throughout the course of the whole research.
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4. Research Context
4.1. Introduction
With the aim of giving the reader insight into characteristics of the respective research locations and to inform about important background knowledge as key prerequisite for the following analysis of the research findings in the Chapters 5 - 7, this chapter will present an overview of the context of this research. In its first section, the four locations in which the fieldwork for this research has been conducted will briefly be described. This is followed by an introduction to the structure of Ghana’s educational system and an overview of the most relevant education reforms and significant policies that have been introduced and adopted since Ghana’s independence 1957. Lastly, this chapter will provide insight into the implications of different levels of urbanization on education.
4.2. Research Locations
“The community is called Klangon. It is from two words. ‘Klan’. ‘Klan’ is hyena. This animal. And the ‘gon’. It is a hill. So, there was a hill in the area where those
animals were. You know, the area that time, the whole area was bushy. So, it was not habitable. And so, the animals were found here. So it was, the
community was named after that.” - Samuel Abuesi Okore
Data on children’s participation and access to the education system has been conducted through fieldwork conduced in Greater Accra, one of Ghana’s ten regions, in the Southeast of Ghana (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2019). Since the precise classification of the urbanization level of each of the four research locations based on the classification of an urban area as described in section two of Chapter 2 can only be made on the basis of additional information about each location that was unknown prior to the start of the fieldwork, a preliminary classification of each research location was made in order to determine its relevance with regards to the second sub-question.
Ashaiman: The first research location is Ashaiman, a district located in the Eastern part of Greater Accra between the harbor city Tema and the capital Accra. The fieldwork in Ashaiman was accurately conducted in the community Klangon, which is part of Ashaiman. Described as an “urban settlement” by the Ashaiman Municipal Assembly, it is characterized by a rapid population growth rate of 2.1% (Ashaiman Municipal Assembly, 2017), which can largely be explained by its function as a dormitory town for people on the search for jobs in the nearby cities. Based on the Population and Housing Census Report from 2010, Ashaiman has a population of 190,754 (Ghana Statistical Service, 2014). In 2008, Ashaiman was reported to have a total number of 17 public basic schools and 286 private basic schools (including JHSs), as well as just one public, but seven private SHSs (GhanaWeb,
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2008). Since Ashaiman is located only four kilometers north of Tema, and roughly 30 kilometers northeast of Accra, its population has a relatively good connection to services and infrastructure of the two cities, as well as access to “higher-level social facilities” (GhanaWeb, 2008).
Dodowa: Dodowa is a small town located about a two-hour drive north of the capital Accra in the Shai Osudoku District. The town is embraced by mountains on one side and characterized and “well-known” for its market, which is operating two days a week. Dodowa’s population was estimated by residents between 800 and 3,000.
Ayikuma: Ayikuma is a smaller town than Dodowa, located between Dodowa and Somanya. Its residents estimated a population between 500 and 1,000.
Kongo: Kongo – or, as often referred to by its residents as “Ghana-Kongo” – is a scattered village in the Eastern part of Greater Accra, about a two-hour drive from Ayikuma with an estimated population of 300.
4.3. Previous Education Reforms
This chapter will give a summarizing overview of post-independence educational reforms in Ghana. The focus on free education within national policies began in September 1961 with the introduction of free and compulsory primary and middle school education and was directed at all children of school-going age. The legal basis for the implementation of compulsory education was however only introduced by the Education Act in October 1961 (Osei, 2010: 19). As a result, the enrolment of primary and middle school students doubled within the following five years (Nimako, 1976; Osei, 2010: 19), and subsequently did the number of secondary school students (GOG, 1970; Osei, 2010:19). These increases in enrolment numbers throughout the political era of the Nkrumah regime, however, did not reflect the parallel improvement of education quality, it rather had an adverse effect on it, concerning both primary and secondary education, which was largely due to a lack of qualified teachers. In addition, the announced introduction of a free textbook scheme, as an accompanying element of the 1961 policy on free education was never fully implemented in practice (Osei, 2010: 19), which further contributed to the deterioration of quality education for primary and middle schools. In 1974, the Ghanaian Ministry of Education (MOE) published the details on ideas with regards to a new educational reform, which included not only structural changes to the education system, but furthermore a revision of its content orientation. Central to it was the initial mention of free and compulsory education. It further defined the duration for official school education as nine years and underlined the importance to focus on practical activities within the school curriculum (MOE, 1974; Dei, 2914: 31). These published ideas by the MOE were, however, never fully implemented (Dei, 2014: 31). In 1983, widespread dissatisfaction about the condition of
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the education system started to arise. The discontent and resentment were primary rooted in infrastructure-related drawbacks and the huge lack of teaching materials; subsequently resulting in the emigration of qualified teachers to different countries and drastic decreases in enrolment throughout the country, combined with the official information that more than over two-thirds of the Ghanaian population above 18 years was classified as illiterate (Dei, 2014: 34). There was further the prevalence of linking predicaments of the existing condition to its alleged fundamental cause to be found in its emergence through the colonial system (Dei, 2014:33). One consequence of the unfavorable conditions for teachers during the 1980s was the necessity for many teachers to compensate low salaries within the educational sector through working a second job, which was most of the time found as tutors for students for additional classes outside the classroom. While this would appear as a good initiative, it rather established a growing gap between those students able to pay for and thereby attend the extra classes, and those who were not, who subsequently found themselves in a disadvantaged position in the system (Dei, 2014: 40).
These issues particularly affected rural areas, which have not been targeted as the selection of the population to enjoy benefits of a new educational reform but have rather been widely excluded from any potential benefits of the respective policies (Dei, 2014:31). With regards to the exclusion and subsequent discrimination of sections of the population, the historically difficult position of girls and young women in rural areas must be mentioned, as they have had to face immense disadvantages over a long period of time, which, with regards to education, becomes most apparent in the traditionally-rooted exclusion of girls and young women in school (Dei, 2014: 42). The SAPs were reported to “exacerbate the existing discrepancies in educational access for urban and rural populations, between the genders and between different ethnic groups” (Dei, 2014:43). It was further proved a school drop-out rate of more than 40% resulting as a consequence of the excessive costs, that came along with school attendance of children, including PTA fees, the costs for school uniforms, textbooks or exercise books (Dei, 2014: 44). In the beginning years of the 1990s, academic tests demonstrated very low performance of students in both math and English. While “at least” 3% of students passed the respective test to certify academic performance with satisfactory scores in English, even less students (1.5%) did so in math. Among other reasons, these appalling results were linked to the lack of TLMs, as well as an excessive number of students combined with the concurrent increase in teacher’s absences in school. (Osei, 2010: 30).
Under Rawlings self-perceived “revolutionary government” (Osei, 2010: 43), which was hence characterized by its “strong top-down philosophy” (Osei, 2010: 43), a new educational reform was adopted in 1987. It was centered around the objectives of increasing access to basic education, improving the quality of education, adapting the education system to predominant socio-economic conditions and securing its sustainability with regards to time- and financial aspects (Osei, 2010: 44). The reform largely focused on the former middle schools, which were officially converted into Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) through the reform, hence referred to as the “Junior Secondary School Reform” (Osei, 2010: 49). 1996 marked the year of the official introduction and the launch of the Free
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Compulsory and Universal Basic Education (F-CUBE) with the World Bank as one of its driving forces (Osei, 2010: 36), which had been manifested as a response to Art. 38 (2) of the 1992 Constitution of the Fourth Republic of Ghana, which reads as follows:
“The government shall, within two years after Parliament first meets after coming into force of this Constitution, draw up a programme for implementation within the following ten years, for the provision of free, compulsory and universal basic education.” (The Constitution, 1992)
It is important to note that the F-CUBE encompasses all public schools from both the primary school, as well as the JHS level within the official frame of a nine-year education cycle in its aim of promoting free education with the focus on the following five key areas of focus: teaching and learning, management for quality assurance, broadened enrolments, infrastructure development, and cost and finances (Osei, 2010: 37).
4.4. Ghana’s Educational System Today
4.4.1. Educational Structure
Based on Ghana’s Education Act from 1961, the national education system – the public system of education – is divided into two different levels of education, namely primary and secondary education (Ghana Legal, 2019). The primary level of education is designed for a total of six years (reaching from primary one until primary six), while secondary education is further equally divided into three years of junior high school (JHS) and three years of senior high school (SHS). The latter is further subdivided into form one until form three, before students graduate from SHS through taking part in and passing the countrywide final examination, referred to as “WASSCE” (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2019).
4.5. Free SHS Policy
“By free SHS we mean free tuition, admission fee, textbooks, library fees, science center fees, fees for ICT, examination fee, payment of utility fee, boarding and meals.” (FreeSHS Policy Ghana, 2018)
In September 2017, the new policy on Free SHS, based on the five pillars quality, affordability, access, skills improvement and expansion of infrastructure, was introduced by the government of President Nana Akufo Addo. The policy involves the implementation of free universal secondary education, which includes not only free tuition, but equally free admission, textbooks, libraries, sciences centers, computers, examinations, utilities, boarding and meals, through which the policy addresses complains of previous policies on free education with regards to its connotation of “free” schooling
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(Dei, 2004: 69) (FreeSHS Policy Ghana, 2018). In the following sub-chapters, the reader will be given a brief overview of the main policy objectives, as well as its organizational structures, followed by a summary of the noticeable changes, that have been determined as consequences of the Free SHS policy to this date.
4.5.1. Objectives and Organizational Structures
Free SHS is based on four main aims, which are presented in more detail in Table 2, that can be divided into 1. The removal of cost carriers through the absorption of secondary school fees by the GES, 2. The expansion of physical school infrastructure (including accommodation facilities for students, taking into account the expected increase in enrollment), 3. The improvement in equity and quality education through the provision of textbooks and additional educational material, and 4. The improvement of employable skills with the ultimate aim of strengthening students competitiveness on an international level (FreeSHS Policy Ghana, 2018).
Table 2: Pillars of the Free SHS Policy (Source: FreeSHS Policy Ghana, 2018)
The only official criteria for Ghanaian children to gain access to the three-year GES-scholarship under the Free SHS is the prerequisite of having passed the yearly-set mark for entering a secondary school institution, as well as being a “first-entry student” into form one within the secondary school level, which simultaneously excludes children repeating form one (FreeSHS Policy Ghana, 2018). The implementation of the Free SHS has further been – allegedly preliminary – accompanied with the introduction of the Year-Round Education (YRE), better known under the name “double-track system” as the basic structure for SHS, which has been implemented as a structural element to the Ghanaian education system in the academic year 2018/19. Only within its first year of implementation, a drastic increase in expected student enrollment already became apparent, predicting 181,993 students more to be enrolled in SHSs than the maximum capacity of existing
