Dr. Clement Apaak, the member of parliament for Builsa South, is advising the government not to put off paying the capitation grants to the several basic schools.
The senator claims that the public basic education system is progressively crumbling as a result of the money's delayed release.
According to Dr. Clement Apaak, government action is required to avert the crisis.
The principals of elementary schools can use this award to buy supplies like chalk and registers as well as to invest in fundamental fixtures like doors and windows.“l don’t see anything positive happening at the capitation grants in 2023, because if you look at the goods and services budget line of the Ministry of Finance where the capitation grant is actually financed, the reason why the grant is delaying is that the Ministry of Finance is not releasing the goods and services allocation to the Ghana Education Service and Ministry of Education,” the Executive Secretary of Africa Education Watch said.
He was sceptical about the improvement of the capitation grants, bemoaning the government’s decision to cut down on the grants.
The heads of basic schools are thus forced to either borrow money to keep the schools operating or to accept some of these goods and services on loans when the government fails to make this available. In fact, I believe it's very bad that the public basic education system is failing as a result of this. Government must take the necessary action, according to the Builsa South MP.
On January 1, 2023, Kofi Asare, the executive secretary of Africa Education Watch, urged the ministry of finance to provide schools full access to the monies.
When the minister went to Parliament to read the 2023 budget, less than 19% had been distributed from the GH2.92 million that had been allocated for basic education in terms of goods and services, capitation grants and teacher learning resources, feeding grants to special schools, and BECE subsidiary. Less than 20% of the funds have been distributed as of yet.