CSOs launch unified advocacy blueprint to shape next education medium-term plan

By Ernest Bako WUBONTO

A coalition of 25 civil society organisations (CSOs) has produced a comprehensive advocacy framework designed to influence the implementation of Ghana’s Education Sector Medium-Term Development Plan (ESMTDP) for 2026-2029.

The report catalogues the systemic weaknesses that undermined the previous ESMTDP (2022-2025) and proposes alternative means to foster progress toward 2029.

This initiative is a concerted push to hold the government accountable to its education promises and close persistent equity gaps.

The framework, which is co-developed by Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch) and key education sector CSOs, arrives at a critical juncture as the Ministry of Education (MoE) finalises the new medium-term plan that will steer pre-tertiary education through to the final stretch of the Sustainable Development Goal four (SDG-4) deadline in 2030.

It translates years of citizen-led monitoring and district-level evidence into a structured agenda for policy engagement, ensuring that the voices of marginalised communities are not lost in Accra’s planning corridors.

A citizen-led review conducted across 14 deprived and endowed districts revealed disparities between rural and urban schools, with urban schools continuing to benefit disproportionately from flagship programmes such as the School Feeding Programme, while rural and deprived schools lag on nearly every indicator, from teacher deployment and textbook availability to access to electricity, Internet and gender-friendly toilet facilities.

The framework notes that many primary schools still lack attached junior high schools, forcing pupils to drop out at the transition stage; and that out-of-school children remain a persistent crisis in northern Ghana despite years of remedial interventions.

In the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) sector, only 2.5 percent of Ghana’s education budget is allocated to skills training, a fraction of the six to eight percent invested by peer nations, leaving the system uncompetitive and ill-equipped to meet labour market demands.

The framework seeks to promote equity-focused planning, insisting that the new ESMTDP must separate targets for deprived and endowed districts, introduce a super indicator to measure the attainment gap between national outcomes and those of the most disadvantaged areas, and expand the results framework to capture critical inputs such as electricity, Internet connectivity, textbooks, desks, gender-friendly toilets, ICT facilities and out-of-school children.

This, the coalition indicates, must be within the Education Management Information System (EMIS) to enable annual performance monitoring.

On teacher deployment, the framework echoes Eduwatch’s earlier call for a strictly guided, transparent and decentralised recruitment process that limits postings exclusively to deficit districts, where an estimated 30,000 teachers are urgently needed to prevent further learning disruptions and pupil drop-out.

On financing, the coalition welcomes the uncapping of the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund), which unlocked approximately GH₵6billion for education and the increase in the sector’s share of the national budget to 16.2 percent; but argues that sustained and predictable funding streams, including a proposed skills development levy to boost TVET, must be legislated to insulate education from political cycles.

The framework also demands that the ongoing curriculum review be adequately resourced and aligned with the new plan’s targets, that the Free Senior High School (FSHS) programme be underpinned by a reliable financing mechanism through an amendment of the GETFund Law, and that inclusive education infrastructure be prioritised to accommodate learners with disabilities.

Executive Director of Africa Education Watch, Kofi Asare, described the framework as a tool for constructive accountability, noting that the inclusive policy-making approach adopted by the new government, exemplified by the National Education Forum, had laid a foundation for policy alignment and continuity.

“The framework will be operationalised through a detailed work plan that includes quarterly review meetings, joint research and direct engagement with the Ministry of Education, the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education and the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) to finalise a new classification of deprived districts based on the multi-dimensional poverty index.

With Ghana’s 2030 education goals looming, the coalition holds that ambitious plans are no longer enough. The ESMTDP 2026-2029 must be judged not by the elegance of its prose, but by whether it delivers a teacher to a classroom in the farthest corner of the Northern Region, a textbook to a child in a fishing village, and a pathway from school to productive work for every young Ghanaian.

Key pillars of the 2026–2029 CSO advocacy agenda

• Resource realignment for deprived districts: Pushing for equitable state funding to eliminate ‘schools under trees’ and improve classroom conditions in underserved regions.
• Basic education funding: Ensuring timely and transparent disbursements of critical funds like the Capitation Grant to rural basic schools.
• STEM and digital infrastructure: Holding the government accountable to its pledges of equipping public schools with functional labs and digital learning tools, ensuring equitable access for girls.
• School leadership & accountability: Advocating for institutional support, professional development and localised decision-making power for headteachers to translate policy intent into measurable learning outcomes.

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