GNECC On Capitation Grant

THE GHANA National Education Campaign Coalition, Volta Regional Chapter, has called on government to review the amount allocated to each child under the Capitation Grant so that a greater amount will be given to JSS pupils.

This, they explained, would go a long way to reduce the financial burden on parents as it is clear that JSS pupils pay more in terms of school fees than their counterparts in the primary.

The appeal was made at a community durbar on Capitation Grant organized by the Chapter in collaboration with the Centre for Strategic Planning, Ho, and the PTA of the Liveh Catholic Primary and JSS in the Akatsi district of the Volta region.

The programme aimed at educating society on the Capitation Grant policy with respect to defining the roles and responsibilities of the civil society in its implementation.

It was also to increase awareness on the programme and identify gaps in its implementation.

Mr Francis Attasti, headmaster of the Catholic school who made the appeal, educated participants on the essence of the Capitation Grant, and reiterated that it was a move by government in its effort to achieve the education for all target by the year 2015.

He stressed that one of the things parents could do to ensure the realization of government's aim was to send their children to school since education at the basic level was now free.

He went on to identify some setbacks in the implementation of the scheme as the untimely release of the grant and the inadequacy of the money.

“The grant is often released when the academic term is over.”
Mr. Attasti noted that since the inception of the grant, the amount of money given to schools had not been increased even though prices of goods and services were continuously rising.

The Volta Regional Coordinator, Mr Festus Buetey Longmatey, on his part, explained that the scheme was introduced by government to support parents in educating their children since most parents could not pay levies charged by school authorities which had resulted in some children not having access to education.

He maintained that since its introduction in the 2003/2004 academic year, the scheme had taken over some financial burden of parents and also compensated schools.

The grant was “designed to empower schools for effective use of financial resources to plan and carry out quality school improvement activities and use participatory and transparent processes of planning activities,” he added.

Mr. Hans Honu, the deputy director in charge of supervision and management of schools, recommended to government to ensure the timely release of the grant, review the amount per pupil and also ensure that laws were enacted to arrest parents who refused to send their children to school.

These, he said, would ensure the smooth implementation of the programme to help achieve quality education for all by 2015.

By Mary Anane