The Ghana National Association of Private Schools (GNAPS) has strongly condemned the complete exclusion of private education from the 2027 Budget Statement and Economic Policy, describing it as discriminatory against the more than 40 percent of Ghanaian children enrolled in private schools.
In a press release issued on 13 November 2026, the association expressed “deep pain and disappointment” over the budget presented to Parliament by Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson.
While the government allocated GH₵48 billion to the Ministry of Education — including GH₵11.2 billion to GETFund, GH₵1.37 billion to end the double-track system, GH₵537 million for No Fees Stress, GH₵292 million for free sanitary pads, GH₵166 million for the Capitation Grant, and GH₵169 million to cover BECE fees — not a single cedi was directed toward private schools,” GNAPS said.
“Worse still,” the statement noted, “while government pays BECE fees for children in public schools, it has increased the BECE registration fees again this year for children in private schools.”
GNAPS posed a direct challenge: “Are the children in private schools not citizens of Ghana? Do they not carry Ghanaian birth certificates? Do they not sing the same National Anthem? Do they not sit the same BECE, in the same halls, under the same WAEC?”
The association emphasised that private schools form a critical pillar of the education system.
They operate in underserved communities where public schools are absent or overcrowded, employ hundreds of thousands of Ghanaians, consistently produce strong BECE and WASSCE results, and ease the state’s financial burden by educating children the public system cannot accommodate.
“Many are low-fee community schools run by ordinary Ghanaians charging as little as GH₵50–100 per term, not elite institutions,” they said.
GNAPS listed long-standing grievances: no Capitation Grant, no free BECE coverage, exclusion from free sanitary pads and learning materials, lack of infrastructure support despite paying taxes and levies, and repeated fee increases for private candidates sitting the same national examinations.
The association called on the government and the President to recognise education as a constitutional right for every child, not only those in public schools.
It urged Parliament’s Education Committee and MPs to amend the 2027 Budget to correct the imbalance.
Parents, teachers, traditional leaders, churches, and civil society were also asked to support the campaign.
GNAPS in the release signed by Kennedy Donkor, General Secretary of private demanded the immediate inclusion of all BECE candidates — public and private — in the GH₵169 million allocation, plus reversal of the latest fee increase for private schools and the extension of Capitation Grant, free sanitary pads and teaching support to every Ghanaian child regardless of school type.
They also requested the creation of a formal Private Schools Desk and funding framework within the Ministry of Education, tax relief, and an end to multiple levies and regulatory harassment.
“We are not asking for charity. We are asking for justice. We are asking for equity. Our children are Ghanaians too,” the statement concluded.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
