METHODIST UNIVERSITY COLLEGE GHANA

MASTER OF EDUCATION (M.ED.) EDUCATION MANAGEMENT AND

PRACTICE
(MEMP 2021-2022)
( MEDU 605) (EDUCATIONAL FINANCE AND BUDGETUNG)
Faculty of Education and Entrepreneurship

NAME OF STUDENT: JOSEPH KRAMPAH

INDEX NUMBER: 210461

SUBMISSION DATE:8TH OCTOBER ,2021

ASSIGNMENT TITLE: EDUCATIONAL FINANCE AND BUDGETING

Funding helps schools meet minimum quality standards including essentials teaching
inputs instructional conditions and other basic resources that attract students and teachers
and also provide an adequate learning environment.

A . Describe the main sources of funding education in Ghana.

INTRODUCTION
(1) Education is fundamental to development and growth. The human mind makes possible
all development achievements, from health advances and agricultural innovations to
efficient public administration and private sector growth. For Ghana to reap these
benefits fully, resources must be geared towards funding education in Ghana. In Ghana,
the main sources of funding education are the government, the private sector and
international sources. The flow of funding to institutions have categorized into public,
government dependent private and independent private. The government of Ghana fund
Ghana education system by the following means, grants from the government. In 2016
Ghana and IEPA renewed partnership with the government through it yearly budget,
allocates funds to the education sector. They are used to put up schools, renovating of
aging buildings, distribution of printed text books, supply of general teaching and
learning materials to enhanced quality teaching and learning outcomes. That helps to
achieve objective goals by harnessing the training of manpower needs of the country. The
Ghana Education Trust (GET) Fund supports the delivery of quality education to the
citizens of Ghana from the basic to tertiary level through dynamic founding policies
aimed at ensuring equitable provision of essential resources for all level of education to
all segment of the Ghanaian population. The (GETfund) donate cars to the state
institution, they put school infrastructure and donate books to schools nationwide. The
international sources of funding education in Ghana are through donor contributions,
through grants and loans, project aid, commodity aid, technical assistance program aid,
debt relief and budget support, provide better academic environment.

B . Highlight any five (5) factors which have been influencing education in Ghana since
1980s.
-Externalities / external factors
- Government policy
- Availability of fund
- Demand for education
- The need for reforms in education
- Partisan political campaign promise
- Political instability
Externalities / external factors; Globalization has had a profound effect on educational system
in developed and developing nations, with many of its consequences being unanticipated.
Contemporary societies are in period of profound changes, where the national space-time has
been lost gradually, since the 1970s. The growing importance of space-time globally and locally
(Ghana) has led to the crisis of national social contract, which formed the basis of the modern
developments of countries. In Ghana perspective, for example the world Bank proposed “sector
approach to deal with the country’s educational crisis. (World bank, 2004:20). It is this proposal
that eventually formed the basis of the educational reforms which were adopted in the 1986 and
commence in 1987, with emphasis on basic education. In this era, most countries have shunned
away from putting up old fashioned classroom that impede student-teacher movement, the
modern classroom have enough space, wired, solar panel for electrification/light, airier places of
conveniences, change room and other auxicinarly facilities. This in diverse ways improved
teachers learning outcomes.

Government policy; Government all over the world have patronized education. This is so,
because education is the key to every country’s development, the Ghana government yearly
allocates financial resources to education sector. The education sector allocation forms about
20% - 25% of GDP. It had embarked on educational reforms to bring the institution abreast with
current trends that pertains in the world (i.e. Basic education, secondary, tertiary level)

Availability of fund; The government of Ghana have spent money in education to bring about
student learning by using resources at its disposal efficiently. Though since 1980s government
has judiciously spent on education by fulfilling the set-ups objectives and goals of education.
Conversely, if the government has inadequate resources. It turned to shunned from its core-
mandate to allocation of resources (funds) to the sector.

Demand for education reforms; The end goals of the reform are to deliver quality education
service to all levels that will equip learners in educational institution with the skills, competence
and awareness that would make them functional citizens who can contribute to the attainment of
the national developmental goals. Every country and for that matter Ghana have the forgone
knowledge before embarking on educational reforms. Then also demand for education has
necessitated the global trend of 6:3:4 (modern system) to old system of 6:4:5:2 of the completion
year in Ghana. It came about as a result of global sway of new policy of teaching-learning new
concepts and enhance student’s performance.

Political instability; It is one of the major factor that have affected and influence Ghana
education. Political instability has bedeviled our country. Every successive government changes
the education sector reform to suit his own ambition and policies which most cases with its own
problems. The 1987 reforms encountered problems at its implementation stages. It encouraged
the creation of an entrepreneurial climate then now free compulsory education in Ghana. All
these improved the living standards of the people. For efficient running of our schools, politics
must be curtailed to the minimum from school’s management and practice and administration for
quality standards to enhanced performance through free basic compulsory education at the basic
and free senior secondary schools in Ghana.
C . Is the concept of cost sharing relevant in the influencing of education amid the
introduction of free education in Ghana?
Cost sharing in education refers to a shift in the burden of higher education cost from being
borne exclusive or predominantly by government, tax payers, to being shared with parents.
The government aim at the lower fee and relate benefits from the fee directly to the payer. The
first components may seem surprising, but without it there are no constraints on how government
determines education.
Government spends money for a variety of reasons, it supplies goods and services that the
private sector would fail to do. In Ghana the government have introduced free basic compulsory
education for all children of school going age, free senior high/technical /agriculture schools
across the country. This is to enable every child to enjoy education to certain level. That is to
make the youth literate and enhanced the manpower needs of the country.
The burden associated with introduction of free education in Ghana are enormous.
Firstly, the free education (FSHS) and Basic level with particular reference to FSHS, planning of
the project is seem to have been poorly done and such is more likely to collapse. In any project,
planning is very important and critical for it to be successful.

Cost sharing has increased total resources for education in the sense that it unlikely that the
government would have made these same expenditures in the absence of private expenditures.
The IEA research identifies as the challenge of the 1992 constitution which states higher
education shall be equally made accessible to all on the basis of capacity building by every
appropriate introduction of free basic compulsory education.
Education has several stakeholders and these includes government, students and their parents,
private sector groups are expected to provide their quota. Ghana constitution only allow free
education for basic schools then only. Nonetheless the proposal was done way back 1995 while
implementation happened in 2014. Their basic level of education would enable or sharpen their
skills and availabilities to benefit the market and hence foster entrepreneurial climate.
It is through education that the society will be enlighten on better living styles or even how
people can improve their standards. The freed education will be taught and model into becoming
fully fledged citizen capable of participating positively toward building the nation.
It will transform the country’s economy positively. This is plain fact that free education in Ghana
will bring this outcome.
Cost sharing is very relevant in education and for that matter Ghana. The need for government to
get more revenue to run the institution. Since the introduction of free Basic compulsory
education (fCUBE) free senior/technical/vocational and agriculture there has being an
astronomical rise in school enrollment as well as in universities. It has resulted in dramatic
increase in both the public and private demand in higher education. The demand pressure is a
function of the sheer demographic increase in the traditional collage age. Secondary, school
completion rates which in turn increase in turn the number of those wanting to go to higher
education, further compounded by an expansion of what be considered as collage going cohort to
include adult. The demand pressure is especially in the low income countries that are still trying
to change from elite to mass tertiary level participation, at the same time, are trying to become
more economically competitive in the increasing global economy. The e institution providing
higher education are also under pressure to expand their facilities to accommodate the access
qualified secondary students. The cost for these institution to admit these students far
outweighed its infrastructure space. This will increase per a student head cost for the institution
The idea of equity plays a role to promote cost sharing in higher institutions of learning. The
notion of equity holds the view that those who benefits should at least share in the cost made
more clear and compelling to do so. It holds that education actually paid for by citizens because
everybody pay tax in one- way- or other. Taxes are collected through regressive, or at best
proportional, tax on sales, production and others
In Ghana, a very disproportionate number of the beneficiaries of education are coming
from middle, upper middle and upper income families. These class of income earners can pay or
would pay at least a portion of the cost of instruction if they had to pay. Then also, potential
students who would be excluded from education by the presence of tuition, collected can easily
fund the tested grants and all subsidies.
Cost sharing is also prudent in the sense that, the neoliberal economic notion that tuition
components consist of “a price, ask as it were, on a variable and highly demanded commodity.
This brings higher education virtues to market. That is to say, it will promote greater efficiency.
The education will have endowed them skills, competency increased their efficiency in the job
market. It will promote the level of their thinking. Suffice to say, families will become more
discerning consumers and the universities more cost –conscious providers. The other virtue
attributable to economic notion of high demand of commodity or better still the producer
institution responsiveness to market demand. The assumption is that the need to supplement
public revenue with tuition, gifts, and the grants from governments will make universities more
responsive to individual and societal needs. A variation on this is directed at the alleged
problems of academic malingering. The students alleged to be taking more years or more courses
or both than are necessary or even useful merely largely or courses and living expenses paid for
and because the alternative may be either be employed or unemployment.
Ghana has implemented free universal compulsory basic education(fCUBE) and free senior
high secondary secondary school(FSHS) amid the policy of universal cost sharing of education.
Ideally, one can conclude hastily that institution of higher learning must also be free. Though
the resistant’s holds their own views. The dominant socio-political ideologist holds higher
education to be another social entitlement to be free, at least for privilege ones to make it through
the rigorous academic secondary system. Again, the resistant holds ideas that increased tuition
was lead to neither to more resources for the university, nor to additional need-based aid and
greater participation among the hitherto by passed, nor even to a shift in public resources to other
socially worthwhile programmes, but simply to shift of tax payer resources from higher
education to some other claims that may be more politically forceful including tax cuts for the
wealth.
To conclude, cost sharing have come to stay in the higher education institutions with its own
unique problems. Every policy in education that evolved as result of polies must be tackled head
–on. The same parents are enjoying free basic and secondary with no cost sharing must be
prepared to pay the cost at higher education level.
 References

1.Cost of Sharing in Higher Education: Tuition, Financial Assistant and Accessibility in

Perspective. D. BRUCE JOHNSTONE- state University of NEW YORK. Buffalo.
2. Cost – Sharing and the Cost-Effectiveness Grants and loans Subsidies to Higher education-
research gate.
3. The Effect of cost of –sharing on quality performance of Higher education and Introduction
of a Balance Score cards in Tanzania by: Hellena Mohammed Maushi.
4. Lecture Slides: Dr. Charles Otoo ( MUCCG) Ghana.