The premise that education is a central pillar of human resource development is widely accepted in Ghana. Education produces knowledge, skills, values and attitudes. Education is critical for economic growth and poverty reduction. Through education there is a development of critical thinking skills to create human capital to affect workers productivity and distribution of new wealth. Ghana @ 50 therefore demands frank assessment of the various interventions in education delivery in the country to guide our actions, from the current rallying cry of a fall in standard of education to a reality of achieving excellence.

Diverse forms of Aid

Aid comes in various diverse forms: Problem oriented funding that identifies a development problem (e.g. a shortfall of trained teachers) and a potential solution is designed in the form of targeted project; Sector oriented project to address multiple problems in a coordinated manner (e.g. Primary Education Programme (PREP)); Program funding with funds allocated to a government to spend in whatever way it chooses, as long as the government makes progress in achieving a set of policy goals agreed upon at the beginning of funding cycle ((e.g. Fast Track Initiative (FTI) and the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA)). Within this ambit of development assistance, we have Project and Budgetary support with increased demand for results and evidence of impacts. Access to funding, for instance, for Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and the Fast-Track Initiatives (FTI) are based on the premises that the development funds should be targeted to countries that are making the most efficient use of the money and actually are achieving development results. These countries are defined within the MDG and FTI as those which have enacted good policies and which have minimized corruption.

Major initiatives and interventions

Aid has played and continues to play a key role in education delivery in Ghana. Major initiatives, for instance, from 1992-2006 included Primary Education Programme (PREP), Education Sector Adjustment Credit, Primary School Development Project (PSDP), Basic Education Sector Improvement Programme (BESIP), Education Sector Support Programme (ESSP), Programme of Action to Mitigate the Social Costs of Adjustment (PAMSCAD) and Support to the Education Strategic Plan including partnership programmes and schemes. Resources released to enhance education delivery in the country from 1998-2005, for instance, amounted to about ¢20.9 Trillion with Government of Ghana (GOG) sources of about ¢19.2 Trillion (92%) and External Sources of about ¢1.7 Trillion (8%).

Challenges in the application of Aid

In deciding which path to chart in education delivery in the country, the initial challenge has been whether to build a broad-based educational pyramid, in which near -universal primary-level enrollment is attained before large-scale expansion of secondary and higher education. In allocating Development Assistance Funds for Education, universal access to primary education essentially swamped other sector priorities. Percentage of Basic Education Component on GES Budget (GOG), for instance, in 1999 was 66.3%. In addition, the stress on the GOG budget in terms of counterpart / matching fund virtually left nothing for other sectors like Technical/ Vocational, Secondary and Tertiary Education. The absence of a balanced education sector development strategy and the danger of casting all priorities in terms of Basic Education nearly led to a total breakdown within the education community in areas like Technical/ Vocational, Secondary and Tertiary Education. The receipt of the counterpart fund as a condition for further disbursement of some of the development funds also stalled the disbursement process in the education sector. Where the GOG resources to the sector was woefully inadequate, what the matching fund requirements implied was asking the sector to use external sources of funding to provide matching funding for programmes that were already being funded by external sources. Aid allocated for the development of education has also not brought major changes in poverty-stricken rural areas so long as Technical /Vocational or Agricultural education has not been a priority or emphasized in Ghana. Too often, when international assistance ends, the activities initiated on the ground especially in the rural areas also die. Focusing exclusively on the basic education system had also not reformed basic education in the country. Education improvement is seen as a sector wide commitment and mobilization. The teaching quality of basic education cannot be improved without upgrading the infrastructure and course content at the secondary level. The upgrade of secondary level also demands an improvement at the tertiary level.

Quality assurance to enhance Aid effectiveness

Rate of returns on investment in education in Ghana are not well documented to enable one to speak with authority the path Ghana has to chart in education delivery. Research evidence in Ghana, however, suggests that formal post-basic education, not basic education, has the largest direct impact on incomes. This notwithstanding, formal post-basic education in Ghana is also seen not to be pro-poor to enable Development Partners, for example, to explore mechanisms by which they can provide funds to support the poor through post-basic education in Ghana while still giving priority attention to the base (i.e. Basic Education). Yearly payment of Teacher Trainee allowance by the Central Government (GOG) is about ¢135 billion. Similarly, under SSS subsidy about ¢384 billion was paid from 2002-2005. These payments, to mention but a few, are not pro-poor to get the expected impact.

In conclusion, where a country's social and economic policies are hopelessly mired in distortions, there is a poor attitude to work; lack of a sense of commitment, responsibility and accountability; and moral decay. Aid will fail. A central challenge is to develop consensus on what constitutes successful development assistance in Ghana and the path to chart to further enhance Aid effectiveness.

Matthew Karikari-Ababio is a financial analyst by profession and currently the Unit Head of Policy Research, Monitoring and Evaluation of the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports.