THE IMPACT OF DONOR SUPPORT TO BASIC EDUCATION IN GHANA SINCE THE 1987 EDUCATION SECTOR REFORMS

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of donor support to Ghana’s Basic Education sector since the 1987 Education Sector Reforms. It explores the extents to which donor support had contributed to the mitigating the challenges of basic education in Ghana in order to determine what remains. The paper draws on extensive literature sources and in-depth interviews with donor agencies and policymakers that are connected to the provision of Basic Education in Ghana. The data was collected for a doctoral thesis between 2006 and 2011. The paper argues that while donor support had sought to contribute to the resolution of many of the challenges facing Ghana’s Basic Education sector, many of the challenges remain. It found that there have been positive impacts such as gender parity at the basic level, improvements enrollment, attainment and complete rates yet others such as management inefficiency, poor motivation and teacher commitment, within sector challenges, weak supervision and ineffective sector coordination remain. Hence, it has been suggested that much more collaboration between donors and the Ghanaian government is needed to effectively tackle the persistent Basic Education sector challenges.