A misguided curriculum : decentralized education policy in Ghana's primary school system

Abstract

Since the Millennium Development Goals addressed universal primary education as an objective to be met by 2015, the international development community has been looking for ways to overcome access issues in education. The World Bank situates decentralization strategies within its good governance agenda, compelling developing countries to adopt policies that will decentralize their education system, thereby improving access to education. The Government of Ghana's decentralized education policy, which began in 1987, is conceptualized within this good governance framework.

This research investigates the extent to which the Government of Ghana's education policy has been decentralization to determine the effectiveness of this strategy in improving enrolment rates. The government policies stipulate three areas in which access to education will improve as part of a decentralization strategy. These are: power relations between the centre and local governments, resources allocated to the District Assemblies, and development of curriculum. The data reveals that there has been little to no change in these three areas since the introduction of the decentralized education policy twenty years ago.

The analysis reveals that decentralization conceptualized within the World Bank's good governance strategy is deconcentrated in form; consequently, sufficient resource and decision-making power has not been allocated to the local governments. In effect, these governments have not been able to bring improvements to reflect the accessibility needs of their community and enrolment rates have not increased. This indicates that the decentralization strategy conceptualized by the World Bank's good governance initiative must be altered if universal primary education is to be achieved by 2015.