Redirect GHS2bn ABFA to rural school infrastructure — EduWatch urges Finance Minister

The African Education Watch (EduWatch) has urged the Minister of Finance, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson to redirect over GHS 2 billion from the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA) into rural education infrastructure at the basic level.

The think tank expressed concern that the withdrawal of this funding is worsening the growing rural-urban divide in basic education, which it attributes to what it describes as an “inclusion-blind budgeting” system.

Speaking during a post-budget workshop for Members of Parliament, Executive Director of EduWatch, Kofi Asare, stressed the need for an inclusive allocation of the education budget to address persistent challenges in rural areas.

“I expressed concern about the withdrawal of over GHS 2 billion ABFA funding for education and appealed to the Minister of Finance to redirect the ABFA funding into rural education infrastructure at the basic level,” he said.

“I also observed that as USAID withdraws funding for education, over 1,200 deprived schools in northern Ghana need targeted support, including teaching and learning resources and furniture,” the education advocate added in a social media post on Sunday, March 16.

EduWatch further noted that rural areas continuously receive inadequate budgetary allocations, leading to widespread issues such as schools under trees and deteriorating education quality.

At the basic level, approximately 5,300 schools still operate under trees, sheds, and dilapidated structures, while there is a deficit of 3,600 junior high schools (JHS), 800,000 desks, and ICT facilities.

According to EduWatch, this situation has created an infrastructure financing gap of US$3 billion for the medium-term period of 2025–2030.