Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch) has raised serious concerns over the imposition of examination and printing fees on parents of public basic school pupils ahead of term assessments set to begin on Monday, April 7, 2025.
In a strongly worded statement released on Sunday, the education policy think tank criticised some basic school heads for demanding payment of such fees and threatening to exclude pupils whose parents are unable to comply. Eduwatch described the practice as a violation of Ghana’s commitment to free basic education under the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) policy and relevant legal frameworks.
The organization cited Section 2(b) of the Pre-Tertiary Education Act, 2020 (Act 1049), which affirms that basic education shall be “free, compulsory, and universal,” and emphasized that no child should be excluded on the basis of economic hardship, as stated in Section 3 of the same law.
“While Eduwatch supports parental contributions towards school development and learning, it is imperative that this remains strictly voluntary,” the statement read. “Any attempt to coerce payment or penalize pupils whose parents cannot afford to pay is not only unlawful but unjust.”
Eduwatch, known for its commitment to equity in education, expressed strong opposition to what it termed “practices that exclude children from full participation in their right to basic education due to socio-economic factors.”
The organization further placed responsibility on the Government of Ghana, through the Ministry of Education, to ensure that public basic schools are adequately funded to conduct school-based assessments without shifting the financial burden to parents.
“It is well-known that these funds have not been timely released in recent years,” the group acknowledged. “However, imposing fees on poor parents to address systemic funding shortfalls is not a sustainable or fair solution.”
Eduwatch is calling on the Minister for Education to take urgent steps to ensure timely disbursement of funds to public schools for end-of-term examinations. They also urged the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES) to ensure that no pupil is denied the opportunity to write exams simply because their parents are unable to pay.
The statement ends with a clear warning: failure to address this issue could undermine the very principles of free basic education, deepening inequality and eroding public trust in the education system.
