A Comparison of “Well Endowed” and “Deprived” Districts in Education Delivery in Ghana

Abstract

The Pilot Programmatic Scheme (PPS) of the World Bank was brought on board by the Government of Ghana and the Ministry of Education to provide assistance to deprived districts to enable them fast track the achievement of performance indicators in education delivery. Using the analysis of variance technique, the growth rate performance in primary gross enrolment rates of schools located in deprived and endowed districts that were randomly sampled were compared. Results revealed that both deprived and endowed districts experienced similar average growth rates in primary gross enrolment. The analysis of variance showed that, performance over the period 2007 – 2010 between deprived and endowed districts considered were not significantly different. Results imply that the PPS has worked for selected areas. It is recommended for more support and widespread capacity strengthening for all District Education Directorates to enable Ghana meet the International Commitments in the MDGs enshrined in the Education Strategic Plan and Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy.