Mr. Michael Minlah, an Economist and Lecturer at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), has bemoaned the low spending on health and education compared to the rising interest servicing costs in the country.
According to him, this has huge long-term repercussions on the country’s economic development as it is gradually widening the inequality gap.
“The low investment in education will lead to low human capital development which will in the long term affect economic growth. But the major problem will be that it will widen the gap between the rich and the poor as education is seen as one of the key avenues to closing this gap. Economic development will thus, be affected negatively”.
Mr. Minlah
Mr. Minlah was commenting on a latest ActionAid Ghana report which analyzed trends in public sector wage bill in education and health sectors in comparison with the cost of debt serving. The report revealed that Ghana spent nearly 7 percent of its GDP to service debt, compared to 4 percent on health and education wage bill altogether between 2016-2020.
This, ActionAid attributed to the continuous austerity measures that have promoted debt servicing above gender-responsive public and social service provision and expansion. Consistently for the five-year period (i.e., 2016-2020) the government, on annual basis, spent twice the amount spent on both public sector wage bills in education and health in debt servicing, ActionAid stated.
High Debt Servicing Crippling Investment In Gender Sensitive Sectors
ActionAid Ghana stated that the negative impacts of the rapid increasing public debt amidst declining GDP growth, further points to an emerging debt crisis in Ghana. This situation, according to ActionAid, has the potential to affect the provision of critical gender-responsive social services such as health, education, social protection, sanitation, and water.
“The fast-rising public debt and debt servicing costs have constrained government’s fiscal space to expand employment in health and education sectors. However, women, being largely the frontline workers such as teachers, nurses, midwives, doctors and other education and health workers, are being adversely impacted the more”.
ActionAid Ghana
These, coupled with the increasing women’s unpaid domestic and childcare services, are pushing women more into poverty and undermining their progress on human rights – a situation that significantly threatens the realization of SDGs, ActionAid Ghana warned in its latest report.
Shortage of teachers
ActionAid highlighted that another major effect of this underfunding is persistent and intractable shortages of teachers occurring at all levels of Ghana’s education system. The report revealed that the average national teacher-student ratios are 32:1, 31:1, 15:1, 20:1 and 27:1 for pre-primary, primary, junior high, secondary, and tertiary levels of education, respectively.
This is way above the 15:1 global threshold for pre-primary, primary and junior high levels, 13:1 for senior high level and even lower ratio for tertiary (less 13:1 ratio), AictionAid stated.
“This means that Ghana’s ratios are twice higher than the economically efficient levels, a situation which affects productivity and delivery of quality education. A look at the gap suggests that to attain the goal of universal primary education or the SDG 4 by 2030, Ghana will need to recruit about 15 percent more teachers each year at the primary level between now and 2030”.
ActionAid Ghana
Mr. Minlah told The Vaultz News that the high student-to-teacher ratio will lead to the churning out of students who cannot meet the job market demands, further worsening the unemployment situation in the country. He, however, believes the government will make significant gains in meeting Goal 4 of the SDGs by 2030.
“A high student-teacher ratio will simply lead to students with poor quality. These students will not be able to fit and contribute effectively in the job market. Their productivity will be low, translating to reduction in economic performance.
“By 2030, the government of Ghana, through the free SHS will be very close to achieving the SDG 4 goal. The free SHS policy address the all-inclusiveness aspect of the SDG goal, however, the quality aspect is yet to be fully addressed”.
Mr. Minlah
Limited health workers
In relation to healthcare, the report indicated that the average doctor-to-population ratio of 1:8132 per population far exceeds the WHO’s global threshold of 1:1000.
“We found that Ghana needs to fill a net budgetary deficit of 40 percent (US$206.6 million) to meet the minimum requirement of staffing for primary and secondary health services. This is a clear indication of underfunding and inadequate provision of gender responsive public social services”.
ActionAid Ghana
The report also highlighted that the freeze on employment due to the IMF bailout in 2015 had led to a significant number of teacher and nurses who have still not been posted. The report therefore, recommended that as part of its long-term planning, government should determine staffing and pay levels that are consistent with their public sector wage bills and allow for the operation of a motivated and professional teaching force on a sustainable basis. Inequality Inequality Inequality Inequality Inequality
