On February 6, Eduwatch commenced its School Desks Monitoring to draw Government's attention to the high (2.3 million) desks deficits in Ghana's public basic schools, and call for increased investment in basic education infrastructure. The Campaign commenced with the publishing of a policy brief on how Government can confront the desk deficits.

Eduwatch has since February 13 churned out district- and regional-specific data on the basic school desk deficit across the country with the intention of mobilizing action from DCEs, Regional Ministers and MPs to address the problem.

Eduwatch, however posits that, addressing the desks deficits requires an innovative approach of mobilizing funds from both state and non-state actors. The policy brief is available at https://africaeducationwatch.org/alert/policy-brief-vol-25.

As part of the Campaign, Eduwatch is also calling on the public to donate to its #Desk4Schools Project, aimed at providing some desks for basic school children in deprived districts across the country. Kindly visit https://africaeducationwatch.org/desk4schools-project to donate to the project.

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On Thursday February 9, Eduwatch participated in the Strategic Approaches to Girls' Education Project (STAGE) close out meeting to disseminate the outcome of the STAGE Project. The project, being implemented by World Education Incorporated (WEI), aimed at bringing a comprehensive approach to the education of girls (10-19 years), to reduce the barriers girls face at the individual, community, school, and system levels. From 2018-2023, the Project has reached 17,000 girls through an accelerated learning programme in which girls underwent functional literacy, numeracy, vocational and life skills training among others.

The Ghana Country Director of WEI Mrs Susan Adu-Aryee in her welcome address, expressed the organisation's gratitude to FCDO for their support, noting that Government and other Project stakeholders owe it a responsibility to the teeming out-of-school girls to sustain the project as it transitioned from WEI to Government.

Divine Kpe, Eduwatch Snr. Programme Officer, expressed Eduwatch's felicitations to WEI for the successful implementation of the Project, and to FCDO for their support. He added that, as Government takes over the Project, its financial sustainability requires adequate budgetary allocation to the Complementary Education Agency (under which the Project falls). He therefore entreated CSOs present to advocate for improved resource allocation to the Agency to carry out its programmes and activities.

Participants were drawn from the Ministry of Education and its agencies, CSOs, academia and the media.

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On Wednesday February 15, Eduwatch joined stakeholders in a workshop aimed at soliciting inputs for the development of a framework to guide and mainstream the provision of mental health interventions in Ghana's Senior High Schools (SHS). The framework development which is being led by the University of Ghana Medical School (UGMS), is in response to the reportedly high prevalence of mental health issues among SHS students in Ghana.

Eduwatch Snr Programme Officer Divine Kpe observed that, the plan by the Ministry of Education to commence the development of a Safe School Policy and Guidance and Counselling Policy this year, provides the UGMS the opportunity to closely work with the Ministry to ensure either of the two policies to be developed addresses issues of mental health intervention in Ghana's pre-teriary schools.

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On Thursday February 16, Eduwatch participated in a Dialogue on Teenage Pregnancy and School Enrollment organised by the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) of the University of Ghana. The dialogue was aimed at examining the national and regional levels of teenage pregnancies, school enrollments and dropout rates, their implications on national development, and propose recommendations for policy reforms.

Addressing participants on the sub-theme - teenage pregnancy and school dropout, Education Specialist with UNICEF, Dr. Madeez Adamu-Issah indicated that though government has made considerable efforts in reducing teenage pregnancy, inadequate funding of social protection agencies has limited these efforts. The Executive Director of the National Population Council, Dr. Leticia Adelaide Appiah also speaking on the implications of teenage pregnancy on education and national development, added that "Investment in teenage pregnancy prevention would remove barriers to teenage pregnancy and improve enrolment for sustainable development". She also called for a widespread public education campaign in support of contraceptive use and responsible parenting to avert the menace.

Eduwatch, in our engagements with national and local level actors, have observed that, the disparity in communication on teenage pregnancy between the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Ghana Health Service (GHS), i.e., Abstinence vs Safe-sex/Contraception, and the disparity in reporting teenage pregnancy data between the Ministries of Education and Health, pose a challenge to the fight against teenage pregnancy. Eduwatch believes a harmonised communication strategy on teenage pregnancy prevention education among school children is needed to prevent the differences in messaging by state and non-state social protection actors, while a harmonised data system on teenage pregnancy reporting is critical in planning and budgeting for social protection agencies to address the challenge.

Eduwatch was represented by Programme Officer Kwasi Nimo Jnr. Participants included representatives from the GHS, the Girls Education Unit of GES, Department of Gender, ActionAid Ghana, Ghana Aids Commission, Ghana Commission for UNESCO, Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana, students from Achimota Senior High School, West Africa Senior High School and the University of Ghana, as well as members of ISSER.

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On Monday, February 20, Eduwatch published the Complementary Basic Education (CBE) Financing Brief. The policy brief will serve as a tool to strengthen Civil Society advocacy for increased resourcing of the Complementary Education Agency (CEA) to effectively implement Government of Ghana's CBE programme.

The brief highlights the out-of-school phenomenon in Ghana and the implementation of the CBE by reviewing key CBE policy issues, budgetary allocations and expenditure, as well as the implications of financing trends and the IMF programme on CBE delivery.

The CBE Financing Brief can be accessed via the link below:
https://africaeducationwatch.org/publication/cbe-financing-brief-22

The publication is an activity under the SERVE III project being implemented by Eduwatch with support from FCDO and in partnership with STAR-Ghana Foundation

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