The Political Economy of Cost-Free Education in Ghanaian Public Schools: A Critical Analysis of National Resources (Finance, Materials and Manpower)

Abstract

This paper explores the subject matter of cost-free education that has been hotly and contentiously debated by political parties and incumbent governments before and during general elections in Ghana. These debates are usually centered on the feasibility or otherwise of a cost-free first and second cycle’s education to the multitude of Ghanaian children. The portent of these arguments or debates of the possibility of a cost-free education stems from the realization that the majority of Ghanaian parents are unable to educate their children of school-going age as a result of abject poverty. This paper argues that the flux of ideas on cost-free education in Ghanaian public schools is unsustainable, and that it is a populist and a political gimmick.

Keywords: Abject poverty, Basic School, Education, Political Economy, Public School, skewed.