K w a m e A k y e a m p o n g 2 0 1 7

Accountability in the Education Sector:

The Case of Ghana

This paper was commissioned by the Global Education Monitoring Report as background information

to assist in drafting the 2017/8 GEM Report, Accountability in education: Meeting our commitments.

It has not been edited by the team. The views and opinions expressed in this paper are those of the

author(s) and should not be attributed to the Global Education Monitoring Report or to UNESCO. The

papers can be cited with the following reference: “Paper commissioned for the 2017/8 Global

Education Monitoring Report, Accountability in education: Meeting our commitments”. For further

information, please contact gemreport@unesco.org.

ED/GEMR/MRT/2017/C1/8

Country case study prepared for the 2017/8 Global Education Monitoring Report

Accountability in education: Meeting our commitments

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1. Accountability: indigenous notion in the local context 1

Accountability is not a concept alien to indigenous Ghanaian systems of governance. For example, the Akan notion of accountability and representation, enjoins the represented to hold those who represent them to account. It is also interpreted to mean; answering for one’s actions and taking responsibility for mistakes, or showing responsibility by explaining how one managed resources. From this perspective, it is the responsibility of those who govern to render an account to the governed, but also for the governed to demand accountability from their leadership through “mechanisms to control their leaders and ensure that the course of government conforms to the wishes of the people” (Ajei 2001, p 35). Ghana’s 1992 constitution clearly states that, the people of Ghana declare and affirm their commitment to, inter alia; (1) probity and accountability, (2) the principles that all powers of government spring from the sovereign will of the people. Based on the 1992 constitution, governments have sought to give meaning to these commitments by decentralising basic services, including education. It is expected that through decentralisation local communities will demand improved services ensuring that other stakeholders and providers of education become more accountable to those they provide services to. Some recent evidence suggests that Ghanaians, though interested in discussing issues that affect them, nevertheless majority never contact an official at a government agency (89%), their Member of Parliament (86%), a political party official (85%) and their local government councillor (68%) about important problems or to give them their views (Armah-Attoh et. al., 2014). It suggests that institutions and structures are not enough for Ghanaians to engage. In the same way, decentralisation of public services does not guarantee that citizens will demand and receive improved services. In relation to education decentralisation, the evidence discussed in this paper shows that it has generally not led to improvements in quality education for disadvantaged groups due to a combination of weak accountability structures, processes, capacity and resources.

2. Introduction and Country Profile

Ghana, gained independence in 1957, and immediately embarked on ambitious plans to expand education access for all through the local government structures. The Education Act of 1961 (Act 87) envisaged that basic education would be a local enterprise carried out at the local level by the local authorities acting on behalf of central Government. The Act indicated that “it shall be the duty of the local education authority for every area so far as its functions extend to contribute towards the spiritual, moral and physical development of the community by securing that efficient education throughout the primary and middle stages shall be available to meet the needs of the population of its area”. The objective was to enhance accountability and efficiency. From the 1970s to 1990s, further attempts were made to devolve education service delivery entirely to the district level to enhance accountability (Ahwoi et al., 2015). More recently, Ghana’s Education Strategic Plan (ESP 2010-2020) has stressed the importance of future education decision-making and implementation as the responsibility of local government, and given local communities oversight of education through School Management Committees (SMCs) in basic education institutions and Boards of Governors (BoGs) in the second cycle institutions.

1 Written by Kwame Akyeampong, Centre for International Education, School of Education and Social Work, University of

Sussex, UK

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In terms of achieving accountable governance in education, Ghana’s ESP (2010-2020), proposed the following as benefits:

Schools, with oversight from locally-appointed SMCs and BoGs will develop School Performance Improvement Programmes (SPIPS) that address their specific institutional needs. Financial resources provided out from capitation grants supplied by Districts but managed and accounted for by SMCs and BoGs

Districts given the familiarity with local conditions, would be best placed to arrange equitable and effective distribution of teachers, especially to disadvantaged areas

Financial budgeting, tracking and expenditure will be more manageable, effective, relevant and locally accountable under devolution

Issues related to quality of teaching learning and pedagogical materials will be more responsive to knowledge of local conditions and proximity to schools

Accountability will be driven upwards through the system, rather than imposed from above from a single accountant-general e.g. Schools will account to Districts who will account to Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Ministry of Finance (MOF)

(Ministry of Education 2013, Education Strategic Plan Chapter 4.1) The ESP describes essentially, how accountability in the education sector through decentralised governance will ultimately provide equitable quality education. It proposes that this will be achieved by: first, increasing the proportion of allocated funds to the school level through districts, thus ensuring that appropriate school facilities, staff and teaching and learning materials are available to improve learning; second, improving behaviours of teachers – to be achieved through increasing attendance, decreasing negative behaviours, and improving pedagogy and teaching skills, improving the quality of relationships between teachers and students, to improve the quality of teaching and student learning outcomes. However, the upwards driven accountability has placed more emphasis on compliance with regulations and adherence to professional norms e.g. schools, teachers adhering to standards, than for example, on effective community participation in schools through School Management Committees (SMCs), BoGs (Board of Governance) and Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) to ensure that schools and districts are held accountable for the quality of education provided in local communities. The in-depth analysis of community representation in schools (see section 4) discusses the challenges local communities in Ghana face in pursuing active participation in school governance. It draws attention to how local communities are sometimes denied accountability in the management of education at the district level. 2.1 Decentralisation and Accountability

Ghana's decentralization policy aims to give "voice" to local citizens through structures that ensure their active participation in decision-making processes. Accountability is therefore to be achieved through regular engagement between elected local government representatives and citizens. In the context of education decentralisation, this means locating critical decision-making of education matters at the district and school level. Decentralisation has been used by Ghanaian policy makers as the “major driving force in strengthening efficiency and accountability of resources and results, … to make basic education generally more accountable to local level authorities and allow self-regulation mechanisms through communities at grass roots to improve the quality of education service delivery (Government of Ghana, 2000:35). But, districts and school communities have not been effective holding education service providers to account, especially in rural communities (World Bank 2004). Also, through decentralisation, resources from central government, recruitment, and policy implementation are expected to be managed by the District Education Directorate (DED) which is accountable to the regional education directorate and district assembly. Schools are accountable to districts on pupil performance. But this accountability chain does not necessarily translate to effective action. In many instances, although District Education Directors may be criticised by the assembly or District Chief Executive (DCE) whenever basic schools’

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results are poor, this has not resulted in changing substantially the educational plight of basic school pupils (Debrah 2009). Rather, accountability is often about providing answers to queries about performance, and less about resourcing and empowering schools, teachers and local communities to take action that will lead to meaningful and lasting change. Emphasis is placed on accountability through administrative mechanisms whilst community-accountability and empowerment initiatives which arguably are more likely to improve the quality of education receive less attention (Essuman & Akyeampong 2010).

3. Actors and Accountability

Generally, “accountability exists when the performance of tasks or functions by an individual or institution are subject to the oversight of another individual or institution … For example, if a school or district is accountable to a community, then if the school fails to provide adequate textbooks, ensure that teachers are present during the school day, or support pupil progress toward numeracy and literacy attainment then the community should have the power to force schools to address these deficiencies” (Darvas & Balwanz 2014). Thus, it is the ability of key actors to force action for improved services that determines whether accountability will be effective. At the apex of the education system in Ghana is the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service responsible for policy formulation and implementation respectively. At the next level, is the regional and district directorates of education with oversight over schools and educational institutions. Below this level are schools, where teachers and Headteachers are responsible for teaching and the management of schools. Finally, school communities are represented on School Management Committees (SMCs,) Board of Governors (BoGs) and Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) to support schools in the delivery of quality education. International organisations and the Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) community sit outside this governance structure, but play an important role in shaping education policy, advocating for equitable education policy and practices. The Ministry of Education organises accountability meetings through a National Education Sector Annual Review (NESAR). NESAR is used as a forum to discuss the successes and failings of programme priorities of the Ministry. The Ministry also publishes every year the Education Sector Performance Report (ESPR) which highlights planned activities and their targets, and notes which have been achieved fully or partially. The ESPR provides space for stakeholders to review progress and challenges. However, Darvas & Balwanz (2014) point out that ‘there does not appear to be a system of accountability for addressing performance challenges against key priorities” as laid out in the ESPR, and that the complicated nature of budget activities makes accounting for missed targets and uncompleted activities nearly impossible. Darvas and Balwanz (2014) also point out that the public and media are often more interested in ‘visible’ education issues (e.g. construction of secondary schools, free school uniforms) compared to “less visible activities such as teacher professional development or providing remedial learning support to children” (p 136) What are the different roles played by these institutional actors, and how do these roles impact on accountability in the Ghanaian education sector? 3.1 The Ministry of Education

The Ministry of Education has overall responsibility for education sector policy, planning and monitoring. Major policy initiatives in basic education are initiated and driven by the Ministry of Education. For example, the Ministry of Education, with financial and technical support from the World Bank, introduced major education reforms in 1987 (World Bank 2004). The 1987 education reforms focused on improving efficiency and effectiveness in education service delivery, and relied heavily on the World Bank to provide the needed finances to implement the reforms (Little 2010, World Bank 2004). In 1995, the Ministry of Education initiated a new

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education policy agenda: The Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) policy. FCUBE provided the framework for donor support to education and laid out institutional arrangements and other measures to support the nascent decentralisation programme, including increased community participation in school management (World Bank 2004). By relying on donor funds for the 1987 and FCUBE reforms, the Ministry indirectly became accountable to external bodies such as the World Bank in driving its policies. An evaluation of the 1987 education reforms suggest that effective implementation was problematic, largely because of the lack of deep consultation and support at local level. For example, whereas the World Bank was engaged with the Ministry to lay out reform strategies and conditions for financial assistance (World Bank 2004), “teachers felt they had been consulted insufficiently prior to the implementation of the 1987 reforms” (Little 2010, p 20). Thus, the two most significant education policy reforms spearheaded by the Ministry of Education became less accountable to teachers and school communities. Strong financial assistance from donors such as the World Bank, DFID and European Union had skewed accountability towards external partners. But, the World Bank’s own assessment of its role in the 1987 reforms is that, the reforms were driven by national interests through education commissions in the 1970s which recommended changes to the structure of education. All it did, was to provide financial and technical assistance for equitable access to basic education (World Bank 2004). Thus, the Ministry of Education’s role in policy formulation and implementation in the 1980s and 1990s was strongly associated with donor assistance and conditionality’s that made them more accountable to powerful international organisations such as the World Bank. In contrast, from the 2000s the Ministry’s policy formulation process was influenced less by donor requirements and financial assistance. In 2002, the Ministry of Education produced new policy recommendations to address low GERS of 38.7% at pre-school, 82.3% at primary, 63.3% at the junior secondary stage and 17% at senior secondary level (Government of Ghana 2002). The Ministry pushed for district assemblies to use the district assembly common funds to provide facilities to improve access. In assessing the Ministry of Education’s role in policy formulation in the 2002 education reforms, Little (2010) argues that the ‘gatekeepers who controlled access to policy formulation were the President and those appointed by him’ (p 30). Similarly, Pedley and Taylor (2009) point out that presidential associates and advisers ‘had more influence than officials, consultants, and donor agency staff working in or with the Ministry of Education” in shaping the content and direction of the reforms (p 25). The reality is that, the policy formulation process in Ghana is not strongly aligned to local demands, but instead has served the agendas and interests of donors and powerful elites at national and local community level (Dunne et al., 2007; Allan 2004). Thus, local communities have had little say in the policy formulation process and consequently have limited power to hold education providers accountable on policies that affect their schools. 3.2 Role of the International Community

The World Bank, the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have at various points in Ghana’s education development process played important roles in influencing education policy and implementation. In the World Bank’s own assessment of its involvement in the 1987 reforms, it pointed out that: “While the reforms were government-driven, the Bank did have some influence on the shape of the program. For example, the government was persuaded to restrict vocational training at JSS level to an introduction to tools. But there were other areas where the Bank was the one to give ground. For example, the Bank went ahead and supported senior secondary schools in a more full- fledged program that proved a costly failure, with $18 million wasted on workshop equipment that were not used” (p 34). Even the Ministry of Education’s Education Strategic Plan (ESP), 2003-2015 was framed in the language of EFA and the MDGs (Little 2010). The ESP provides fully-costed annual operational plans that was used to apply for additional resources under “the EFA Fast Track Initiative (FTI), and for sector budget support from donors particularly DFID and the World Bank (Pedley and Taylor 2009:19).

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Ghana made significant gains in improving educational access with the support it received from the international donor community. In less than 15 years, enrolment in basic education has already doubled, from about 3.5 million pupils enrolled in 1999/2000 to nearly 7 million pupils in 2010/11 (Darvas & Balwanz 2014). But this improvement has not been equitable. Analysis of education performance in Ghana suggests that, despite policies to eliminate fees, supported by the donor community, the costs of education remain a serious barrier to access especially among disadvantaged groups at the basic education level (Akyeampong et al., 2012; Akaguri 2011; Rolleston 2009). Quality has not improved as much as access, and Darvas and Balwanz (2014) point out that “inefficiencies at the school level, led by teacher absenteeism … account for the loss of more than 50 percent of available instructional time in many primary schools” (p. 67). Consequently, although the international donor community has contributed financial resources and supported policy formulations to improve basic education in Ghana, this has not translated into improved learning outcomes for all, partly because of weak fiscal and centralised accountability. Tikly (1996) has argued that financial management should be shifted to schools where resources can be used to improve quality and enrolment, and that this will enhance accountability of resources to improve education. Although Ghana introduced capitation grants to give schools greater autonomy over financial management to improve educational access and quality at the local level, irregular and late access to the grant has crippled the effort of schools, especially in poor districts (Akyeampong 2011). This has meant that it is difficult to hold Headteachers and schools accountable for poor quality learning outcomes. 3.3 Role of School Community

At the district and school level, circuit supervisors and head-teachers can play important management and accountability roles. However, several factors, including lack of resources and insufficient professional development hinder successful fulfilment of this job responsibility. The limited authority and training of circuit supervisors and head-teachers mean that they are often not seen as figures of authority at the school (Darvas & Balwanz 2014). Educational decentralisation policy in Ghana envisioned SMCs and PTAs as bodies that monitor and support schools to deliver quality education at local level. However, particularly in rural areas, they have not been as effective as urban areas mainly because of weak capacity and lack of resources (Darvas & Balwanz 2014). School Report Cards, School Performance Improvement Plans (SPIPs) and School Performance Assessment Meetings (SPAMs) have been introduced to ensure productive engagement of local communities in monitoring and evaluating the performance of schools, but their impact has been mixed (Darvas & Balwanz 2014). The traditional role of circuit supervisors which is to check teachers’ lessons plans, teacher and pupil attendance records etc., has not been effective as well. Circuit supervisors who visit schools rarely go beyond checking teacher attendance and pupil enrolment (Fobih et al., 1999; World Bank 2004). As happens in many developing countries, supervision rarely inculcate a sense of accountability in teachers (Steyn & Squelch 1994; Ahmed & Nath 2005). 3.4 Fiscal accountability

An area of accountability that has been weak is the public finance of and expenditure on education. Basically, in Ghana, education financing is fragmented among several sources and among an even larger number of flows of funds. This makes monitoring challenging, but also this leaves basic schools with no say over the resources needed to deliver quality education. Resources generally flow from the centre and is characterised by the complexity of education finance sources which complicate efforts to improve accountability. Furthermore, the fragmented and decentralized nature of education finance and management compromises national-level accountability efforts (Darvas & Balwanz 2014). Most effective “accountability” exercises in Ghana have originated from outside of the mainstream education sector—led by civil society organizations or development partner efforts to track public funding of education. At the district level, accountability for service delivery is further compromised by the limited authority of and resources available to basic schools and districts. Besides, most municipal district assemblies do not have full autonomy when it comes to expenditure decisions on

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remuneration (salaries and allowances), investment budget (classroom, school buildings, teachers’ houses, etc.) and textbooks provision (Steffensen 2006). 3.5 Teacher Accountability

Teachers’ recruitment and deployment in Ghana is centralised. Upon successful graduation from teacher training, teachers are directly posted to schools and thus do not feel accountable to districts and schools where they have been posted to teach (Hedges 2002). Decentralised teacher management can enable districts and schools to introduce practices or incentives to improve teacher performance (Bennell & Akyeampong 2006). However, in a study of teachers’ role in improving educational access in Ghana, Alhassan & Adzahlie-Mensah (2010) found that generally teacher management and accountability was weak. The study found that:

a) Most Headteachers were not aware that teachers were not teaching the prescribed number of lessons for a day. They believed that the primary causes of drop outs were community attitudes to education and not teacher practices

b) Teachers and Headteachers often reported late to school and there was no system in place to monitor and improve their attendance

c) In some schools, teachers’ teaching methods were not effective and with poor head teacher supervision of classroom practice, there was little chance to identify weaknesses and improve teaching practices

Teacher absenteeism is a problem in the Ghanaian basic education system (Abadzi 2007). Abadzi found that in Ghana, “out of 197 school days, teachers were, on average, absent for 43 days and delayed for 40 days” (Abadzi 2007, p. 99). At the basic school level, Headteachers often lack the capacity and autonomy to address this problem, partly because they have no role in the hiring of teachers. Poor rural communities fear that if they demand higher accountable standards for teachers, many would simply quit teaching in their communities. Teachers in their view were not directly accountable to them (Essuman & Akyeampong 2010). In a school survey conducted by Akyeampong and Asante (2006), head-teachers were asked about the general behaviour of their staff. Whilst rural school heads seem generally happy with the behaviour of their teachers, urban heads complained that teachers were increasingly becoming rude and difficult to manage. The school survey also showed that dismissals rarely occur. Most primary head-teachers, as one union official pointed out, “lack the authority that goes with being a head,” and therefore are unable to initiate disciplinary measures against teachers. In a study on delivery and performance management at the district level, using teacher attendance as an indicator, researchers found that differences could be explained through reference to the nature of power, politics and both formal and informal institutional arrangements at multiple levels of governance in Ghana (ESID 2016). The study, however concluded that it was possible for the problem to be addressed through:

“the constellation of power at district level (that) had helped to shape the capacity of district-level technocrats and school-level bodies such as PTAs to promote teacher accountability, and that a strong alliance forged, not only between the key political and bureaucratic actors involved in governing education at district level, … but also between these actors and the teacher unions had helped to enforce accountable measures at all levels. This had enabled the district education director a free hand to enforce sanctions on teachers through embargo of salaries, incentivised teachers by providing accommodation, and initiated community monitoring and reporting on absentee teachers” (ESID 2016).”

This highlights the possibility of improving teacher accountability through a coalition of effort which empowers districts to enforce teacher management regulations and incentivise teachers to improve their behaviour.

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School Report Cards have been introduced in Ghana with district-level software which allows schools and districts to better monitor schools’ progress in aspects including teacher attendance. A preliminary analysis of data from 41 districts in the first term of 2012/13 found teacher attendance to be around 80% on average. Research into the quality of education in the three northern regions undertook observations at 54 schools in six districts, and found several reasons given by Headteachers for teacher absenteeism. These included teacher sickness, attending social issues, delayed salary, lack of decent accommodation etc. Besides lack of enforced disciplinary procedures by the District Education offices, little onsite supervision by circuit supervisors, contributed to a lack of commitment from teachers (Ministry of Education 2013)

4. In-depth analysis of an issue

Local community involvement in school management

Parental involvement in education, particularly in school governance, is a means of making schools more accountable to the society which funds them. Education decentralisation policy in Ghana has promoted the idea that local communities would be at the centre of the drive to improve the quality of education. The assumption is that; parents would demand better services and generally hold education providers accountable for the quality of education they provide. Under education decentralisation, PTAs and SMCs were part and parcel of the school community, with equal responsibility as teachers and Headteachers for improving schools. In the review of the literature on community participation in schools Dunne et. al., (2007) summarised the arguments in favour and concerns with community participation in practice (figure 1) Figure 1: Issues Surrounding Community Participation in Schooling

Arguments in favour of community participation

Concerns about community participation in practice

Mobilisation of additional resources for schooling (through cost-sharing) Increased ownership (e.g. through resource allocation and decision-making) Increased accountability of schools Increased efficiency in schools Increased responsiveness of schools to local needs Increased choice in schooling Better pupil attendance (through increased parental involvement) and achievement Greater teacher professionalism Improved educational quality (through increased accountability and extra resources) Improved democratisation and school cohesion within the community Acquisition of new skills in the community through participation in school management/governance Means of implementing educational decentralisation

Participation often limited to financial or material conditions Accountability of schools often more upwards to local government than out to communities Decrease in state responsibility but often not a concomitant relinquishing of power Costs a burden on communities, especially the poorest Uncertain sustainability of community participation Greater likelihood of the school/teachers being pressured by local politics Unequal access to participation on formal school bodies Lack of clarity of remit or ‘real authority’ for participatory bodies Inequitable participation in schooling Teachers may feel threatened by greater community/parental involvement Lack of community skills for meaningful participation

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Participation often uni-directional from communities to schools according to the school’s demands

Source: Dunne, Akyeampong, Humphreys (2007:29-30) Much of what the literature points out in favour of community participation and concerns with its practice applies in the Ghana context. The World Bank’s (2004) impact evaluation of education reforms in Ghana included the role of community participation in school management. It concluded that there is considerable variation in the extent to which PTAs have provided support to schools, and that the support is closely related to the community’s economic well-being, and that on average, more affluent schools in urban areas receive 10 times as much in PTA contributions as schools in less affluent areas. Also, although School Performance Assessment Meetings (SPAM) were introduced to enhance accountability at the school level, only 6 percent of households had someone attend a SPAM at their child’s school (World Bank 2004 p. 16-18). Although local communities’ welcome participation in the provision of basic education, what they do not welcome are situations where responsibilities are assigned to them without consideration of their capabilities (Baku & Agyeman 1997). Essuman and Akyeampong’s (2010) study of community participation in poor rural contexts, showed that it is often the local elite and relatively more educated members of the community, who become the new brokers of decision-making and, through their actions, close the spaces for representation and participation by community members in the affairs of schools. They also found that the extent of community participation depended on the principle of reciprocity of roles between the community and schools. Teachers felt more accountable to the traditional hierarchical educational authority, and not to the community, partly because they were not recruited by schools or the district. The Ghana evidence suggests that the degrees of engagement by the local community in the affairs of schools depends on the resources and capacity available, both of which are in short supply in rural communities. Thus, the ability to hold schools accountable for the service they provide is reduced. In a study, which explored community participation in district education strategic planning and implementation in Northern Ghana, Takyi et al., (2014) found that “community level stakeholders mentioned district level stakeholders, specifically DEO’s fear of accountability as the major challenge to community participation … they felt the DEO did not involve them in planning the District Education Strategic Plan (DESP) because it did not want to be accountable to them. Also, DEOs were often reluctant to take the appropriate action after SMCs and PTAS reported teachers who were not performing. This lack of action from the DEOs had led to a general tepid attitude of community level stakeholders towards the district education strategic plan process (p 46). The expectation that, the establishment of SMCs and PTAs, would improve opportunities for local communities to hold schools accountable for the quality of education service they provide, has not materialised in the Ghana context, especially when one looks at poor rural communities. For example, many of these communities do not control resources with which to hire teachers, and therefore, lack a sense of empowerment to demand teacher accountability. Besides, local communities feel that their concerns or input into local policy processes are ignored or not valued. This dampens their commitment to demand accountability, as Takyi et al., (2014) found in their study of Northern Ghana. In Ghana, community participation has been a top-down imposition and rarely a response to demands from communities for greater involvement (Dunne et al., 2007). It is this imposition that appears to have stifled genuine community engagement with schools to improve the quality of education they provide. Generally, there is heavy tokenism when it comes to community participation in schooling – communities, especially in rural areas, are not involved with real decision-making. Although, they appear to be given voice through the SMC/PTA system, they have little or no power to demand change as they neither set nor control the local education agenda. Capitation grants were introduced in 2005 after the government abolished school fees. The grants are a yearly allocation per student per school meant to provide transparent funding of classroom activities towards

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improvement of quality education. PTAs and SMCs are required to be involved in planning, managing and monitoring capitation grants. Some evidence suggest that many PTAs and SMCs are not performing this important function as expected. For example, a study of 10 schools in Ghana found that “many members of both PTAs and SMCs were not aware of their powers and/or unable to effectively execute them. This led to continued substantial abuses in funding allocations and textbook supplies not reaching the schools and depriving the intended beneficiaries, the students, of important resources to obtain their rightful education” (PTF 2011). To address this problem, ‘Action for Rural Education (ARE)’ - a Ghanaian Civil Society Organisation, engaged important stakeholders (teachers, students, parents and local education officials) to monitor textbook distribution and form committees to actively participate in the budgeting and planning processes. This resulted in curbing the corruption associated with utilisation of capitation grants in the 10 schools. The key success strategy was “to build a critical understanding of all dimensions of the capitation grant system as well as the textbook tracking processes among all SMCs” (PTF 2011, p 2). In effect, this was about legitimising and empowering SMCs and PTAs to monitor delivery of quality education. What this shows is that, with better understanding of their roles and capacity building, SMCs and PTAs can become agents of change

5. Policy Recommendations

Accountability in the Ghanaian education sector can best be described as bureaucratic. Ghana has sought to improve accountability through decentralisation policy. Decentralisation without real powers, resources and capacity at the local level to support schools and hold them to account can make little difference to school improvement policy and practice. From the analysis of the Ghana situation, the following recommendations can be made to improve accountability in the sector. To achieve real accountability in the education sector, decision-makers must have powers to enforce recommendations that emerge from information about system performance. This will mean that decision-makers at all levels of the education system must have the resources and capacity to take appropriate action. Resource allocation to district and school level must be simplified and more transparent so that the use of resources can be clearly linked to education performance to facilitate the accountability process. Decentralisation is not the panacea to weak accountability in the education sector. It must be accompanied by improvements in capacity and resource allocation. Greater devolution of decision-making powers in the areas of resource and teacher management has the potential to enhance accountability. Decentralisation policy must also shift the emphasis away from accountability through administrative mechanisms to community-accountability and empowerment initiatives to improve the quality of education.

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6. References

Abadzi, Helen. 2007. Absenteeism and Beyond: Instructional Time Loss and Consequences. Washington, DC: World Bank. Ahmed, A. U. & Nath, S. (2005) Education Watch Report 2003/2004. Quality with Equity: The Primary Education Agenda. Dhaka, Bangladesh: Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE) Ahwoi K., Djangmah J.S. Badu Akosa, A., Deku K., & Appiah E., (2015) Sector Fiscal Decentralisation of Health and Education Financing (SFDHEF). Ministry of Finance, Accra: Ghana Ajei M., (2001) Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Good Governance in Ghana: The Traditional Akan Socio-Political Example. Occasional Papers No. 30. Institute of Economic Affairs, Accra: Ghana. Akaguri L., (2011) Quality Low-Fee Private Schools for the Rural Poor: Perception or Reality? Evidence from Southern Ghana. CREATE Pathways to Access Research Monograph No. 69. Brighton: University of Sussex, UK. Akyeampong, K. Rolleston C., Ampiah J.G., Lewin, K.M. (2012) Access, Transitions and Equity in Education in Ghana: Researching Practice, Problems and Policy. CREATE Pathways to Access Research Monograph No. 72. University of Sussex/University of London, UK Akyeampong K (2011) (Re)Assessing the Impact of School Capitation Grants on Educational Access in Ghana. CREATE Pathways to Access Research Monograph No. 71. University of Sussex, UK Akyeampong K & Asante K (2006) Teacher Motivation and Incentives – a profile of Ghana. University of Sussex, Centre for International Education, UK Alhassan S., & Adzahlie-Mensah V., (2010) Teachers and Access to Schooling in Ghana. CREATE Pathways to Access Research Monograph No. 43 University of Winneba, Ghana Allan T. (2004) The Impact of Decentralisation on Education Outcomes in Africa’ in Decentralisation Education Management Newsletter – a quarterly publication in English and French. International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa Armah-Attoh, D., Ampratwum E., & Palley J. (2014) Political Accountability in Ghana: Evidence from Afrobarometer Round 5 Survey. Briefing Paper No. 136. http://afrobarometer.org/sites/default/files/publications/Dispatch/ab_r6_dispatchno23.pdf Baku R. & Agyeman D., (1997) The effects of community participation in the provision of basic education on access to and quality of education, report conducted on behalf of the Educational Research Network for West and Central Africa – ERNWACA Bennell, P., and K. Akyeampong. 2006. Is There a Teacher Motivation Crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia? Key Findings and Recommendations of an International Research Project, Knowledge and Skills for Development. Brighton, UK: Knowledge and Skills for Development.

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