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Ghana
has 12,130 primary schools, 5,450 junior secondary schools, 503 senior
secondary schools, 21 training colleges, 18 technical institutions, two
diploma-awarding institutions and five universities serving a population
of 17 million; this means that most Ghanaians have relatively easy access
to good education. In contrast, at the time of independence in 1957, Ghana
had only one university and a handful of secondary and primary schools. In
the past decade, Ghana's spending on education has been between 28 percent
and 40 percent of its annual budget.
Primary- and middle-school education is tuition-free and will be mandatory when enough teachers and facilities are available to accommodate all the students. Students begin their 6-year primary education at age six. Under educational reforms implemented in 1987, they pass into a new junior secondary school system for 3 years of academic training combined with technical and vocational training. Pass a Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE) Those continuing move into the 3-year senior secondary school program. Entrance to universities is by examination following completion of senior secondary school. School enrollment totals almost 2 million: 1.3 million primary; 107,600 secondary; 489,000 middle; 21,280 technical; 11,300 teacher training; and 5,600 university. Education is mainly in English Overview of the Ghanaian Education System Universities1. University of Ghana, Legon 2. Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology, Kumasi 3. University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast 4. Unversity of Development Studies 5. Methodist University College of Ghana, Dansoman 6. Islamic University College of Ghana, East Legon 7. Catholic University, Fiapre 8. University College of Winneba, Winneba 9. Central University being run by the International central gospel church. 10. Ashesi University College (www.ashesi.org) |