Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in education in Ghana have sent a petition to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to exclude the education sector from the expenditure cuts that in budget allocation of the sector.
The petition was released on the 27th April, 2023 by the Civil Society Organizations in education in Ghana which include organizations such as Africa Education Watch, World Vision Ghana and ActionAid Ghana among many others.
According to these CSOs, the government had failed to comply with the recommended minimum allocations given by the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) in the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (2023-2025) that was presented by the government to the IMF board.
The GPE recommended that 15 per cent of national budget and 4 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) are to be allocated to the education sector globally.
In contrast to the aforementioned recommendations, the government’s expenditure framework allocated 12 per cent of the national budget and 3 per cent of the GDP to education in 2023, followed by an allocation of 11 percent of the national budget and 2 per cent of GDP to education in 2024 and 2025.
The CSOs expressed disappointment over the poor allocation of national resources to education, citing some effects that these poor allocations have caused to Ghana’s education sector such as the strike recently declared by the Ghana School Feeding Programme Caterers.
They went on to list some suggestions to the IMF so that they may ensure that the Government of Ghana is able to meet the recommnded requirements in the allocation of resources to the education sector.
The CSOs finally suggested that the government cuts down on its machinery to be ale to achieve recommended allocations for the educational sector.
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