UNIVERSITY OF GHANA 

COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES 

 

 

STAKEHOLDERS’ PERSPECTIVE ON THE EFFECT OF THE FREE SHS POLICY 

ON GOVERNMENT’S BASIC EDUCATION INVESTMENT AND HOW IT 

AFFECTS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS IN THE 

AKUAPEM NORTH MUNICIPALITY 

 

ELIZABETH GYANEWA SAFORO 

 

 

INSTITUTE OF STATISTICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC RESEARCH 

JANUARY, 2023

University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh



 

UNIVERSITY OF GHANA 

COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES 

 

 

STAKEHOLDERS’ PERSPECTIVE ON THE EFFECT OF THE FREE SHS POLICY 

ON GOVERNMENT’S BASIC EDUCATION INVESTMENT AND HOW IT 

AFFECTS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS IN THE 

AKUAPEM NORTH MUNICIPALITY 

 

BY 

ELIZABETH GYANEWA SAFORO 

(10936454) 

 

 

THIS DISSERTATION IS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF GHANA, 

LEGON IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE 

AWARD OF MASTER OF ARTS IN DEVELOPMENT STUDIES DEGREE 

 

INSTITUTE OF STATISTICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC RESEARCH 

JANUARY, 2023 

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i 

DECLARATION 

I, hereby solemnly declare that, with the exception of referencing other scholar’s work which 

has been acknowledged accordingly, this thesis, “STAKEHOLDERS’ PERSPECTIVE ON 

THE EFFECT OF THE FREE SHS POLICY ON GOVERNMENT’S BASIC 

EDUCATION INVESTMENT AND HOW IT AFFECTS ACADEMIC 

PERFORMANCE OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS IN THE AKUAPEM NORTH 

MUNICIPALITY” is the result of my own research work carried out in the Institute of 

Statistical Social and Economic Research (ISSER), under the supervision of DR. ANDREW 

AGYEI-HOLMES and that this thesis has neither in whole nor in part presented anywhere for 

the award degree and that any error is attributed to my personal limitations. 

 

 

Sign:      Date: 31st January, 2023 

ELIZABETH GYANEWA SAFORO 

(Student) 

 

Sign:      Date: 31st January, 2023 

ANDREW AGYEI-HOLMES (PhD.) 

(Supervisor) 

 

 

 

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DEDICATION 

This research work is dedicated to my mother, Mad. Adelaide Owusua for being an unwavering 

support system in my life. God reward you greatly! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 

My first gratitude goes to God Almighty for His sustenance throughout this programme. I am 

extremely grateful to my supervisor Andrew Agyei-Holmes (PhD.) for his support, guidance 

and timely feedback during the course of this dissertation. His scholarly zeal and insights 

contributed to the quality of this thesis. 

My appreciation also goes to the staff and pupils for their availability and willingness in giving 

responses to my questions. Also to my colleagues especially Nana Asi Asare-Ansah and 

Nwando Akouvie Ogo for their support and companionship. 

A heavy thank you to Rev. Ernest Asiedu Alao -Caesar, Mr. and Mrs. Addo, Mr. Evans Dekyi, 

Hilda and Yayra, Obed, Elikem and Jana, Enoch, Charles and Isaac Saforo for the diverse ways 

they contributed to the success of this research.  

God bless you all! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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ABSTRACT 

Education is an important sector that the Government of Ghana is investing a lot of money into 

in order to secure the quality of education in the country. However, it is realized that though the 

budgetary allocation for the sector is huge, the assigned budget for basic schools keep reducing 

over the years. The higher cut of the budget is allocated to the Senior High Schools for the Free 

SHS Programme at the expense of the smooth administration of the basic schools. 

The intent of this research therefore was to investigate whether the implementation of the Free 

SHS Programme has had a knock-on effect on government’s investment into basic education 

and how it has affected academic performance in the Akuapem North Municipality in the 

Eastern Region of Ghana. The investment was conceptualized into five teaching and learning 

inputs namely: school building construction, teacher quantity and quality, pedagogical 

materials, provision of food and integrated health systems as these inputs are known to impact 

academic performance. The research was catalogued from 2017 to 2022 as 2017 marks the 

inception of the programme. 

The study revealed that since the inception of the programme, there were no new infrastructure 

established by the government, supply of pedagogical materials were not forthcoming, number 

of teachers were enough but handicapped, the schools did not benefit from the School Feeding 

Program and the first aid boxes in the schools were not well stocked. The academic performance 

of pupils were seen to be average and the study validated the possibility of a policy knock-on 

effect of the Free SHS on government’s investment into basic education and the fact that 

academic performance had declined over the stated period of years in these basic schools. 

Based on the findings, the study recommended that government increases budgetary allocation 

for the basic level, invests in infrastructure, implements the school feeding programme at the 

JHS level, as well as partner with donor agencies to support the funding of the sector especially 

at the basic school level. 

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Table of Contents 

DECLARATION .................................................................................................................... i 

DEDICATION....................................................................................................................... ii 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .................................................................................................... iii 

ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................... iv 

LIST OF TABLES.............................................................................................................. viii 

LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................. ix 

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................... x 

CHAPTER ONE .................................................................................................................... 1 

INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 1 

1.1 Background of the Study .................................................................................................. 1 

1.2 Problem Statement ........................................................................................................... 3 

1.3 Research Questions.......................................................................................................... 5 

1.4 Research Objectives ........................................................................................................ 5 

1.5 Justification of the Study ................................................................................................. 5 

1.6 Scope and Limitation of the Study .................................................................................. 6 

1.7 Organization of the Study ................................................................................................ 6 

CHAPTER TWO ................................................................................................................... 7 

LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................................................................... 7 

2.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 7 

2.2 Theoretical Framework .................................................................................................... 7 

2.3 Conceptual Framework .................................................................................................... 9 

2.4 Implementing the Free SHS Policy and Reports of its Unintended Effects on Basic 

Education .............................................................................................................................. 10 

2.5 The Relevant Learning and Teaching Inputs in Basic Education and their State in Africa

 .............................................................................................................................................. 11 

2.5.1 School Construction as a Basic Education Input ........................................................ 12 

2.5.2 Provision of Pedagogical Materials as a Basic Education Input ................................. 12 

2.5.3 Teacher Quantity and Quality as a Basic Education Input .......................................... 13 

2.5.4 Provision of Food as an Input for Basic Education ..................................................... 14 

2.5.5 Integrated School Health as a Basic Education Input ................................................. 14 

2.6 The Relationship Between Teaching and Learning Inputs and Academic Performance: 

What Do We Know? ............................................................................................................ 15 

2.6.1 Influence of Food Provision in Basic Schools on Students’ Academic Performance 15 

2.6.2 School Constructions and Academic Performance ..................................................... 16 

2.6.3 Influence of Pedagogical Materials on Student Performance ..................................... 17 

2.6.4 Influence of Teacher Quantity and Quality on Student Performance ......................... 20 

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2.6.5 Influence of Integrated School Health on Student Performance ................................. 21 

2.7 Teaching and Learning Inputs in Ghana: State of the Arts ............................................ 21 

2.7.1 State of Basic School Infrastructure ............................................................................ 21 

2.7.2 State of the Provision of Pedagogical Materials ......................................................... 22 

2.7.3 The State of Teacher Quantity and Quality ................................................................ 24 

2.7.4 The Provision of Food ................................................................................................. 25 

2.7.5 The Provision of Medical Services ............................................................................. 26 

2.8 Concluding Remarks ...................................................................................................... 28 

CHAPTER THREE ............................................................................................................. 30 

METHODOLOGY .............................................................................................................. 30 

3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 30 

3.2 Study Area ..................................................................................................................... 30 

3.3 Research Design ............................................................................................................ 31 

3.4 Sampling ........................................................................................................................ 31 

3.5 Instrumentation .............................................................................................................. 33 

3.6 Sources and Type of Data .............................................................................................. 33 

3.7 Analysis of Data ............................................................................................................ 34 

3.8 Variable Description and Measurement ........................................................................ 35 

3.8.1 Academic Performance ............................................................................................... 35 

3.8.2 Food Provision ............................................................................................................ 35 

3.8.3 School Construction ................................................................................................... 35 

3.8.4 Pedagogical Materials ................................................................................................. 35 

3.8.5 Teacher Quantity and Quality ..................................................................................... 35 

3.8.6 Integrated School Health ............................................................................................ 35 

3.9 Apriori Expectation ....................................................................................................... 36 

3.10 Ethical Considerations ................................................................................................. 36 

CHAPTER FOUR ............................................................................................................... 37 

DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ........................................................................... 37 

4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 37 

4.2 Demographic characteristics of respondents ................................................................. 37 

4.2.1 Age and sex of respondents ........................................................................................ 37 

4.2.2 Means of getting to school and the duration ............................................................... 38 

4.2.3 Caregiver .................................................................................................................... 38 

4.2.4 Educational Level of Caregivers ................................................................................ 39 

4.2.5 Occupation of Caregivers ........................................................................................... 39 

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4.3 The effect of the Free SHS Policy on the supply of teaching and learning inputs from 

the Government ................................................................................................................... 40 

4.3.1 School building construction ...................................................................................... 40 

4.3.2 Teacher quantity and quality ...................................................................................... 44 

4.3.3 Pedagogical Materials ................................................................................................. 48 

4.3.4 School Feeding ........................................................................................................... 51 

4.3.5 Integrated School Health Services .............................................................................. 55 

4.4 The effect of the state of input supplies on teaching and learning ................................ 56 

4.4.1 The effect of the state of school building construction on teaching and learning ...... 58 

4.4.2 The effect of the state of pedagogical materials on teaching and learning ................. 60 

4.4.3 The effect of the State of School Feeding on Teaching and Learning ....................... 62 

4.4.4 The effect of the state of teacher quality and quantity on teaching and learning ....... 63 

4.4.5 The effect of the state of Integrated Health Systems on teaching and learning ......... 64 

4.5 The effect of the state of input supplies on students’ academic performance ............... 65 

4.6 The effect of the Free SHS Programme on Government’s Investment into Basic 

Education ............................................................................................................................. 70 

4.7 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 72 

CHAPTER FIVE ................................................................................................................. 74 

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ....................................... 74 

5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 74 

5.2 Summary of Findings .................................................................................................... 74 

5.2.1 The effect of the Free SHS Policy on the supply of teaching and learning inputs from 

the Government ................................................................................................................... 74 

5.2.2 The effect of the state of input supplies on teaching and learning ............................. 79 

5.2.3 The effect of the state of input supplies on academic performance ........................... 82 

5.3 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 83 

5.4 Recommendations ......................................................................................................... 84 

5.5 Conclusion to the Study ................................................................................................. 85 

REFERENCES .................................................................................................................... 87 

APPENDIX I ..................................................................................................................... 100 

APPENDIX II .................................................................................................................... 103 

APPENDIX III .................................................................................................................. 104 

 

 

 

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LIST OF TABLES 

Table 2.1: Conceptual Framework ............................................................................................. 9 

Table 3.1: Sampling Frame ...................................................................................................... 32 

Table 3.2: Distribution of Study Respondents according to School Type ............................... 33 

Table 4.1: Availability of Infrastructure................................................................................... 41 

Table 4.2: State of Infrastructure in Schools ............................................................................ 43 

Table 4.3: Teacher Attendance ................................................................................................. 45 

Table 4.4: Frequency on Teacher Quality Factors ................................................................... 46 

Table 4.5: Frequency on Exercises and Assignments .............................................................. 47 

Table 4.6: Results from KIIs and FGDs on Pedagogical Materials Received from the 

Government from 2017-2022 ................................................................................................... 48 

Table 4.7: Frequency of the use of Pedagogical Materials ...................................................... 50 

Table 4.8: The Effect of the State of Input Supplies on Teaching and Learning. .................... 57 

Table 4.9: Level of Academic Performance of Students from 2017-2022 .............................. 66 

Table 4.10: Mean Score of Pupils on the Core Subjects According to their Forms. ............... 67 

Table 4.11: Mean Score of Pupils on the Core Subjects According to their Geographic 

Locations. ................................................................................................................................. 68 

Table 4.12: Mean Score of Pupils on the Core Subjects According to their Ownership and 

Control……...………………………………………………………………………………...69 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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LIST OF FIGURES 

Figure 3.1: Map of Akuapem North Municipality...……………….……………...………….30 

Figure 4.1: Importance of the structures to learning……………….……………...………….43 

Figure 4.2: Ability to study when hungry………………………….…………………………53 

Figure 4.3: Ability to study when satisfied………………………,……….………………….54 

Figure 4.4: First aid effectiveness……………………………….……………………………56 

Figure 4.5: The effect of the Free SHS Programme on Government’s Investment into Basic 

Education………………………………………………………...……………………….…..71 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 

BECE     Basic Education Certificate Examination 

COVID    Corona Virus Disease 

FGD     Focus Group Discussion 

FSHS     Free Senior High School 

GES     Ghana Education Service 

GoG     Government of Ghana 

JHS     Junior High School 

KII     Key Informant Interview 

MoE     Ministry of Education 

NaCCA    National Council for Curriculum and Assessment 

NGO     Non-Governmental Organization 

PTA     Parent-Teacher Association 

SHS     Senior High School 

SFP     School Feeding Programme 

TLM     Teaching and Learning Materials 

 

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CHAPTER ONE 

INTRODUCTION 

1.1 Background of the Study 

Education is an imperative action as it is considered to be the starting point for all human 

endeavours in this day of globalization and technical advancement (Emilio, 2020). It is very 

significant since it has a positive effect on an individual’s wellbeing as well as creating chances 

to improve living conditions (Battle and Lewis, 2002).  

Due to the relevance of education, the quality of pupils’ academic performance is a discourse 

that is of extreme significance to educators and other stakeholders (Farooq, Chaudhry, Shafiq, 

& Berhanu 2011). In light of this, many actors which includes educators, policy analysts, 

researchers, and other stakeholders have shown great interest in assessing the various factors 

that affect academic performance of students at various academic levels. Adane (2013) 

concludes that the academic performance observed in schools is as a result of the interplay of 

several factors.  

According to Crosnoe, Johnson & Elder (2004), the factors known to affect academic 

performance can be based on variables that are relevant to students, parents, families, or 

schools. In terms of variables that are relevant to school, it centers on the nature of teachers, the 

physical structure and facilities of the school and the school environment. The various variables 

include teaching materials, the teacher qualification, the location and physical attributes of the 

school, the teacher-student ratio (Adane, 2013). Additionally, there are not enough trained 

teachers, no motivation for teachers, and inefficient monitoring of teachers (Anamuah-Mensah, 

2010). 

Adane (2013) found that a number of household characteristics, such as the family's 

socioeconomic position, which includes education, employment, and income level, can have an 

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impact on academic achievement. Other household factors include the household size, family 

structure and the parent’s interest in education. It is noted that parents with little or no interest 

in education affect their ward’s academic performance negatively (Currie,1995; Gregg & 

Machin, 1999), and the opposite is true, all things being equal as stated by Coleman (2006). 

In addition to these factors are student related factors which include students’ attendance to 

school, time dedicated to learning, paying attention in class, health status of the student as well 

as the student’s  personal motivation towards schooling (Adane, 2013). Also, the issues of 

gender and other social factors that pertain to students have a role to play in the achievement 

gaps and role differences (Emilio, 2020). 

Various research has been carried out in Africa to look at the elements that influence pupils' 

academic success. In Kenya for example, Lloyd, Mensch and Clark (2000) conducted a research 

to identify the elements that influence academic performance and it was revealed that the 

schools with low performance were characterized by inadequate school facilities, little 

participation of students in learning, and the general school environment. It is observed in the 

findings from studies in Africa that there is an interplay of the three related factors in affecting 

academic performance of students. 

In Ghana, numerous studies have been conducted for and by agencies, including the 

government which are accountable for education to identify the determinants of academic 

performance of students. The aim of these studies is to identify the factors and find possible 

ways to address them in order to help in raising pupils’ academic performance. It is based on 

the findings that many interventions have been implemented to help reduce these factors' 

negative influence on academic performance and these interventions include the School 

Feeding Programme, the Free Senior High School Policy, the Ghana Accountability for 

Learning Outcomes Project and the Water Sanitation and Health Programme.  

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Despite the increased investment in the country’s educational sector, the quality of education 

has not significantly improved (Akyeampong, 2009). The FSHS Policy in particular is investing 

a lot of money into education specifically at the Secondary Education Level leaving the Basic 

Education level with decreasing budgetary allocation as the years go by (UNICEF, 2022). Since 

school related factors have an impact on academic performance, it is against the backdrop that 

this study seeks to investigate the effect of the Free Senior High School Policy on government’s 

investment into Basic Education and how it affects academic performance. 

1.2 Problem Statement 

Basic education is one of the foundations for human development. How much you have learnt 

is one of the predictors on how far you will succeed in life (Asongu & Odhiambo, 2019). What 

is true on the individual level has crucial implications for a society’s development or 

underdevelopment hence for any state to develop, there needs to be investment in education as 

that means investing in a country’s future (Adane, 2013). The different levels of development 

between countries worldwide led to the preposition that, it is not so much the natural 

endowment of a country that determines its level of development but rather, its endowment 

with human capital (Schultz, 1961). In other words, a country’s development depends on 

humans - and the better those humans are educated, the better a country can develop 

economically, politically and socially (Manuh et al., 2007). 

Despite the knowledge on the importance of primary education, in Ghana, the quality of formal 

basic education is faced with numerous challenges affecting the standard of education and 

pupils' performance in basic schools. One of the key elements is the issue of government's 

investment in the basic school education system that has seen a significant reduction for basic 

education (Government of Ghana, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022). The budget allocation 

of the Ministry of Education (MoE) to Teaching and Learning Materials, Water Sanitation and 

Hygiene (WaSH), and Goods and Services has declined by 56% since 2016 (UNICEF, 2022).  

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From 2022 onwards, the MoE is set to spend just 8.8% of its budget on goods and services in 

the basic education sector as compared to the expenditure of 14.67% in 2018, 13.19% in 2019, 

10.3% in 2020, and 9.8% in 2021 (MoE MTEFs, 2018-2022). Significant expenditure on these 

services is crucial as they help with the provision of items like textbooks, chalks, markers, pens, 

and other educational materials to support learning. It is also used to provide teachers with 

training to equip them to be better teachers (UNICEF, 2022). 

Interestingly, the significant budgetary reduction towards primary education comes at the time 

when the Ghanaian government is investing in second cycle education through its Free Senior 

High School Programme. Since its inception in September 2017 till date, it is noted that the 

majority of the budget allocated to education is channeled into the secondary schools in the 

form of classroom blocks, libraries, dormitories, textbooks, to mention a few, while the basic 

schools do not receive enough funds for effective administration (Government of Ghana, 2017, 

2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022). 

As seen above, cutting back on funding for basic education could negatively affect students' 

academic achievement. Without the needed quality of education at the basic level, the human 

resource that will be channeled into the second cycle institutions may not have a solid 

foundation to build on. Currently, both academics and practitioners have not given attention to 

the unintended effects of the Free SHS Policy on basic education. To fill this gap, this study is 

being undertaken to examine the stakeholders’ perspective on the Free SHS Policy on 

Government's Basic Education Investment and how it affects the academic performance of 

Junior High Schools in the Akuapem North Municipality. 

In this study, the focus will be on basic education specifically Junior High Schools. This is 

because basic education is defined as the level of education in a country that constitutes the 

foundation stage to all children (Commonwealth Secretariat, 2012). Without this foundation, 

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children are unable to enter any further educational levels and hence are deprived of the chance 

to develop their full potential.  

1.3 Research Questions 

1. How has the Free SHS Policy affected the supply of teaching and learning inputs from 

the government to the Junior High Schools within the Akuapem North Municipality? 

2. How has the state of input supplies affected teaching and learning in the Junior High 

Schools within the Akuapem North Municipality? 

3. How has the state of input supplies affected students’ academic performance in the 

Junior High Schools within the Akuapem North Municipality? 

1.4 Research Objectives 

1. To identify the effect of the Free SHS Policy on the supply of teaching and learning 

inputs from the government to the Junior High Schools within the Akuapem North 

Municipality. 

2. To assess the effect of the state of input supplies on teaching and learning in the Junior 

High Schools within the Akuapem North Municipality. 

3. To examine the effect of the state of input supplies on students’ academic performance 

in the Junior High Schools within the Akuapem North Municipality. 

1.5 Justification of the Study 

The expectation of this study is that it would help the relevant stakeholders of education in 

Ghana to know the effect of the FSHS Policy on the academic performance of basic school 

students and how best the policy can be reviewed, as well as how to ensure that there is a 

positive knock on effect of the FSHS Policy on basic education and not otherwise. This will 

greatly help to realize the objectives of basic education in Ghana. 

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1.6 Scope and Limitation of the Study 

The study is limited to the Akuapem North Municipality in the Eastern Region of Ghana. The 

focus of the study is to assess the effect of the Free SHS Policy on Government's investment 

into Basic Education and how it affects academic performance of Junior High School students 

in the Akuapem North Municipality. The study covers eight Junior High Schools selected from 

both the rural and urban communities within the municipality. The limitation of this research is 

that it is only conducted in the Akuapem North Municipality. Consequently, it would be 

challenging to apply the results to all basic schools in Ghana. This would not affect the 

originality of this research and it would create the basis for further studies on this topic in the 

future. 

1.7 Organization of the Study 

This study is structured into five chapters. The study's summary, problem description, specific 

objectives, scope and limitations, and organization of the study are all presented in the first 

chapter. The second chapter looks at the pertinent literature that supports the study and is 

organized into topics and sub-themes that are based on its goals as well as its theoretical and 

conceptual framework. Chapter three discusses the technique, which is made up of the research 

design, population and sampling, study tools, and statistical analysis used during the research. 

The study's findings are presented in Chapter four along with a discussion of the information 

acquired to meet the study's objectives. Chapter five concludes with a summary of findings, 

conclusions and recommendations drawn from the study. 

 

 

 

 

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CHAPTER TWO 

LITERATURE REVIEW 

2.1 Introduction 

The chapter presents the theoretical and conceptual frameworks adopted for the study which is 

the basis of the review of literature for this study. In this chapter also, I intend to structure the 

presently existing body of knowledge on my topic in three sections. In section one, I will briefly 

introduce the reader to the reports on the implementation of the Free SHS Policy and its 

unintended effects on Basic Education in Ghana. This is intended to ground this literature 

review on the assumption that so far, the Free SHS Policy has been implemented at the cost of 

basic education inputs. In section two, I will identify which teaching and learning inputs are 

relevant in order to understand and/or evaluate governments’ investment into the sector. I will 

then proceed to detail the current state of these inputs in Africa. As a follow up, I will present 

scientific evidence of whether or not these inputs actually influence students’ academic 

performance at the basic education level. In the third section, I will narrow down to present 

studies on the teaching and learning inputs, current state of government investment into those 

inputs and the relationship between those inputs and basic level education in Ghana.     

2.2 Theoretical Framework 

This study adopted the Human Capital Theory which posits that human beings can rise their 

productive capability through greater education and skills training. The theory was postulated 

by the Economist Adam Smith however, the theory was popularized by Theodore Schultz in 

1961 (Backer, 1994). The Human Capital Theory is a framework that study the relationships 

between investment and education, economic growth and social wellbeing. Operationalizing 

the theory, investment here refers to government’s investment into basic education, education 

refers to education at the basic level which has academic performance as its means of 

verification.  

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This theory throws emphasis on how investment in education, training and health goes a long 

way to increase people’s aptitudes, knowledge, talent, capabilities, productivity, and well-

being, as well as economic and social transformation in society. Human capital is generally 

linked with formal education as a means of facilitating the acquisition of knowledge and skills. 

It also gives consideration to other human capabilities which include nutritional and health 

status, creativity as well as leadership (Midgley, 2014). At the basic level, the most appropriate 

measurement of an increment in a child’s aptitude, knowledge amongst others is to look at the 

final academic performance of the pupils at that stage.  

Most Governments acknowledge the economic significance of human capital hence a notable 

allocation of resources have been directed to their formal education, day care and other literacy 

programmes. There has been a significant improvement in the budgetary allocations to health 

and nutrition as well. The Human Capital Theory provides a basis for diverse policies and 

programmes that promote the acquisition of knowledge and skills, improve people’s health and 

nutrition to increase their capability in order to actively participate in the productive economy 

and also, experience a significant improvement in their standards of living (Midgley, 2014). 

For the purposes of this study, the Human Capital Theory is ideal since it focuses on investment 

into the educational sector and its outcome thereof. From the constructs of this theory, human 

capital has to be well invested into in order to produce students with high academic performance 

rates and also, well skilled and healthy individuals who can live better lives to be productive 

members of the country’s economy. It is therefore imperative that the state of investment into 

education, especially at the basic level, is studied to ascertain if the current state meets the needs 

of the basic schools in order to facilitate a successful teaching and learning process. More so, 

since the theory opines that investment into the educational sector aids in the teaching and 

learning process, it suggests a positive correlation between investment and academic 

performance which is the study’s main focus. 

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2.3 Conceptual Framework 

Table 2.1: Conceptual Framework 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: Author’s Construct, 2022 

The study’s conceptual framework illustrated above is drawn from the Human Capital Theory 

framework which posits that government investment into basic education has a positive effect 

on academic performance hence an increase in government’s investment into basic education 

implies an increase in academic performance and the opposite is true all things being equal. 

Although academic performance goes beyond government’s investment, this study focuses on 

how investment from the government affects academic performance in the Junior High Schools 

in the Akuapem North Municipality. In light of the above stated, the study conceptualizes that 

an increase in government’s investment in the supply of inputs namely school construction, 

teacher quantity and quality, pedagogical materials, food provision and integrated school health 

can cause an increase in the academic performance of pupils within the Akuapem North 

Municipality in the Eastern Region of Ghana. The framework also hinges on the human capital 

Food Provision 

School 

Constructions 

 

Pedagogical 

Materials 

 

Integrated 

School Health 

 

Teacher Quantity 

and Quality 

 

High Academic 

Performance 

Increased 

Government 

Investment 

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theoretical framework which posits that investment in education and training is crucial in 

increasing people’s knowledge, aptitude and capabilities therefore by extension, the academic 

performance of pupils.  

Investment in school construction means to build classroom blocks, libraries, I.C.T. labs, 

workrooms, washrooms and staff common rooms. To invest in teacher quantity and quality is 

to ensure that adequate number of teachers are posted to the schools and that they receive 

training and other capacity building workshops to help them perform their responsibilities as 

required of them. Investing in pedagogical materials is to provide the required teaching and 

learning materials for teaching and learning purposes. To invest in the provision of food is to 

supply food to pupils to ensure that they are well nourished, and to invest in integrated health 

services is to provide healthcare to pupils so that they are in optimum health to study. 

These five inputs namely, school construction, teacher quantity and quality, pedagogical 

materials, food provision and integrated health services according to literature are known to 

affect academic performance therefore the study upon these foundations designed the 

conceptual framework to guide the study. These five teaching and learning inputs are further 

discussed in detail in the rest of the chapter. 

2.4 Implementing the Free SHS Policy and Reports of its Unintended Effects on Basic 

Education     

Public policy experts argue that policy making takes place in complex domains making it 

impossible for policy makers to be privy to all profit and costs hence disposing well intended 

policies to as much chances of success as risk of failure (Mueller, 2020; Braithwaite et al. 2018). 

Indeed, public policies fail more often than one may think owing to the challenges of (i) 

methods and processes, (ii) stakeholder and leadership issues  and (iii) complexity and 

uncertainty (Andrews, 2018, 2019). The observation of a failing policy or the negative knock 

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on effect of a policy on other sectors and/or on parts of the same sector is seen during 

implementation and with the right government support can be remedied (Hudson et al., 2019).  

Since 2017, several scholars have sought to explain and evaluate the FSHS policy of both the 

design and implementation stages. Most of the body of literature describes the FSHS policy as 

a government secondary school cost absorption policy to provide textbooks for core subjects, 

tuition and admission fees, the library, the science center, the computer laboratory, examination, 

boarding, utility costs as well as a free meal for boarding students and one free meal per day 

for day students. Indeed, the programme covers all second cycle educational institutions 

including agricultural, vocational and technical secondary schools (Chanimbe and Prah, 2020b; 

Nurudeen et al., 2018). As I have alluded to scholarly works on success or failure of government 

policies above, no government policy is fully proved from failure and/or knock-on effects. In 

this vein, both journalists and some scholars who have subjected the free SHS policy to 

journalistic reportage and scientific evaluation respectively have indicated that the policy has 

both policy making and implementation challenges despite its noble intention of increasing 

school enrolment at the secondary level (Sarpong, 11/24/2017; Mohammed, 10/11/2017; 

Chanimbe and Dankwah, 2021; Chanimbe and Prah, 2020a; Asante and Agbee, 2021). One of 

the unintended knock-on effects of the free SHS policy is government’s neglected 

responsibilities to supply teaching and learning inputs at the basic education level as scarce 

resources are being channeled to sustain the second cycle institutions (Myjoyonline.com, 

12/4/2022). 

2.5 The Relevant Learning and Teaching Inputs in Basic Education and their State in 

Africa 

Based on a review of the literature, Glewwe and Muralidharan (2016) proposed that the most 

convenient way of understanding teaching and learning inputs is to assess the state of the topic 

of teaching and learning inputs from the following aspects (i) construction of new schools, (ii) 

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provision of pedagogical material (iii) Teacher quality and quantity, (iv) the provision of food 

and (v) the provision of medical service. 

The world over, governments are directly responsible for the majority of the investments in 

basic education to ensure the provision of accessible quality education (Kuhl Teles and 

Andrade, 2008). The latter half of the 20th century marked the beginning of extensive 

investment by governments in education expansion as a global phenomenon though the drive 

to invest in basic education in industrialised countries had started as early as the mid-19th 

century (Roser and Ortiz, 2016). 

In the so-called developing world of which Africa is a member, funding for basic education has 

increased exponentially since 2010 in low- and lower-middle-income countries by almost ten 

times (World Bank Group, 2021). This trend is encouraging but increasing expenses of 

developing countries is not blanket as stark differences exist within and between countries 

(Roser and Ortiz, 2016). That goes to show that developing countries still lack significantly in 

the provision of material input for basic education.  

2.5.1 School Construction as a Basic Education Input 

A review of the literature did not produce any cross-national studies on the state of basic school 

construction in Africa. However, studies on individual countries show that African countries 

may be suffering overcrowded classrooms with little government investment in the construction 

of basic schools. The reports on Kenya and South Africa stand out in this case (Mutisya, 2020; 

West and Meier, 2020). 

2.5.2 Provision of Pedagogical Materials as a Basic Education Input    

One of the authorities that studied learning and teaching materials in developing countries is 

Professor Tony Read. He has contributed significantly to what we know about the state of 

learning and teaching materials in the developing countries through his 2015 work for the World 

Bank titled “Where Have All the Textbooks Gone? Toward Sustainable Provision of Teaching 

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and Learning Materials in Sub-Saharan Africa”. Read (2015) bemoans the emerging evidence 

that there is a widespread lack of government investment in the provision of teaching and 

learning material in most developing countries. He argues that there is a widespread 

misunderstanding among ministries of education and development partners of the features and 

complexity of the problems to be solved. He submits that the provision of teaching and learning 

materials requires a variety of actions and inputs to operate efficiently in the correct sequence 

and a dysfunction at any point can affect the whole system. His subsequent works show that 

governments do not even have the data required to monitor the level of teaching and learning 

material deprivation in their countries (Read, 2017). 

2.5.3 Teacher Quantity and Quality as a Basic Education Input 

Basic school teachers are in short supply in Africa (UNESCO, 2013). The United Nations 

argued in 2013 that for universal primary education, there aren't enough teachers in classrooms 

in around 58% of countries. They projected that by 2030, 2.1 million teaching positions will 

have to be created in Sub-Saharan Africa over and above the 2.6 million teachers leaving the 

profession who will need to be replaced. The more recent report of the International Task Force 

on Teachers for Education 2030 (2021) cautions that the proportion of teachers who are 

qualified in sub-Saharan Africa has been on the decline since the year 2000. They calculate the 

trained teacher pupil ratio in the sub-region’s primary schools to be 1 teacher to 58 pupils. At 

this ratio, countries in sub-Saharan Africa will need to recruit 15 million teachers by 2030. As 

if this very poor ratio was not enough, these teachers are poorly trained too. The International 

Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 (2021) argues that governments do not significantly 

invest in training teachers to give quality teaching experience to the pupils rather governments 

are interested in initiatives that increase enrolment and improve access. To make matters worse, 

there is not enough capacity in teacher preparation programmes to produce an adequate number 

of qualified teachers. 

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2.5.4 Provision of Food as an Input for Basic Education 

Feeding at the basic education level is fast gaining popularity in Africa. There is one large scale 

survey based cross-national study that has studied sixty-eight school feeding programmes 

across thirty-eight sub-Saharan African countries as of 2019. Wineman et al. (2022) found that 

there is an expansion in school feeding programmes in Africa by 71% from 2013 to 2019. In 

the countries covered, school feeding programmes cover 23% of basic school pupils. African 

governments have supported such programmes through budgetary allocations. Together, the 38 

countries spent 1,318,904,945 USD for the 2019 year only.  

The feeding programmes in Africa are not without challenges. Governments’ budgetary 

allocations to school feeding programmes are woefully inadequate causing such programmes 

to halt in the absence of donor support. Governments are also failing to invest in supply chains 

and logistics used in the storage and transportation of food stuff. This wastage goes 

undocumented because of weak monitoring and evaluation systems. This is leading to high rates 

of food spoilages. School feeding programmes are also suffering from shortage of personnel 

due to lack of resources and lack of training (Wineman et al., 2022). 

2.5.5 Integrated School Health as a Basic Education Input   

Integrated School Health as an input in primary education is not popular in Africa except for 

specific cases such as Kenya’s Comprehensive School Health Policy (Wasonga et al., 2014), 

Nigeria’s School Health Programme (Dania and Adebayo, 2019) and South Africa’s Integrated 

Health Policy (Rasesemola et al., 2019). The closest cross-national study on the state of 

integrated school health programme are the studies on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH) 

programmes. In 2017, Morgan et al. (2017) sought to document WaSH availability, continuity, 

quality, quantity, and dependability in 2270 schools that were randomly sampled in rural 

regions of six Sub-Saharan African countries in a multi-national cross-sectional study. Their 

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findings suggest that there are notably low levels of basic sanitation and hygiene services 

accessibility in primary schools in Africa especially in rural communities. 

2.6 The Relationship Between Teaching and Learning Inputs and Academic Performance: 

What Do We Know? 

2.6.1 Influence of Food Provision in Basic Schools on Students’ Academic Performance 

Providing students with free meals at school can positively affect learning performance in two 

possible ways: Firstly, there are studies that suggest that the cognitive capacities of children 

improve when well nourished. A randomised evaluation of Ghana's national school feeding 

programmes lends credence to this idea (Aurino et al., 2020). The authors find improvements 

in average exam performance as a result of school feeding. The groups that improved most were 

girls and children from the poorest households. In Rwanda too, Mensah and Nsabimana 

(2020) find small but significant impacts of a school feeding programme on student test 

scores. However, Parker et al. (2015) found no discernible effects on the pupils' academic 

performance in a cluster randomised trial of school meals in rural Burundi, measuring solely 

health outcomes (haemoglobin and anaemia). Another study looked into the composition of the 

school meals and found in a randomised trial in Kenya that children eating animal protein 

scored higher test results than control groups. 

The second argument about school meals is that, even if food does not directly improve 

cognitive abilities, it can have an impact on enrolment and attendance rates. This is because the 

access to free meals can assist in encouraging parents to send their wards to school particularly 

in very poor areas with low school attendance rates. Support for that thesis is found in rural 

Senegal where Diagne et al., (2014) and later Azomahou et al., (2019) found that the supply of 

school meals increased enrolment and test results using a randomized strategy. In Burkina Faso, 

providing take-home ratios increased enrolment rates of girls and attendance rates for both boys 

and girls (Nikiema, 2019).  

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These findings strongly imply that school feeding is a promising strategy for improving both 

cognitive outcomes and access to education, particularly for girls and those in food-insecure 

areas. However, there are also voices stressing the limitations of free food on schooling quality. 

A systematic literature review of 420 papers assessing more than 200 unique programme across 

52 different low and middle income countries suggests that programmes typically improve 

either school involvement or learning outcomes, however not both (Snilstveit et al., 2015). One 

reason is that with increasing enrolment and attendance, classes grow but the sizes of 

classrooms and number of teachers remain constant which results in lower teaching quality. 

2.6.2 School Constructions and Academic Performance 

The most fundamental condition for improvement in the education sector is the bare existence 

or construction of sufficient schools. Few studies have looked into how the construction of new 

schools influences enrolment rates and found a positive effect even several years later especially 

for regions with low school density. In Burkina Faso for example, a programme to construct 

schools improved enrolment, attendance and student learning both 7 and 10 years after the 

programme (Ingwersen Nicolas et al., 2019; Kazianga et al., 2019). Similar results were found 

in Niger (Bagby et al., 2016) and Benin (Deschênes and Hotte, 2019).  Ashraf et al., 

(2020) found that only among ethnic groups in Zambia with a bride price custom did school 

construction boost girls' education. The findings underline that when there are not enough 

schools, construction is probably a prerequisite for other interventions to be effective. The 

construction of new schools is also an important factor counteracting the dilemma that more 

enrolments and attendances are likely to lead to overcrowded classes and overburdened teachers 

and hence to reduced teaching and learning quality.   

Approaches that go further than to simply increase the quantity of schools ask ‘What is a child’s 

school? What does a school look like that a child would design rather than an adult? What 

should a school be like when the child is placed at the centre of the picture?’ (Smawfield and 

Du, 2006). Important aspects of this design process include the provision, design and use of 

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furniture to support participatory teaching methods and cooperative learning; the consideration 

of school and classroom displays; and the creation of a ‘happy campus’ by means such as the 

provision of space and facilities for sports and play and general improvement of the appearance 

and functionality of school grounds, often with active community involvement. Such a school 

allows for discovery learning (Clark, 2010). However, the strategy has significant limitations 

in areas where children do not have access to the internet or well-stocked libraries. Yet, 

programme have been developed that prove such child-friendly schools do not necessarily have 

to be expensive but enable children much better than conservative school set-ups (Barrett et al., 

2006). For example, the Cluster Based Mentoring Programme in Pakistan encouraged teachers 

to create their own affordable resources (Rizvi and Nagy, 2016). And ‘Enlaces’ is an illustration 

of how ICTs are being used extensively in Chile to raise the standard of teaching and learning 

and make school curriculum more appropriate for the information age. (Hinostroza et al., 2009). 

In all these examples, inputs contributed to the success of initiatives because they were 

appropriate to the environment and were introduced alongside teacher training. Materials must 

not only be chosen or created to complement desired instructional practices; their (non-

)availability must also be taken into account. 

2.6.3 Influence of Pedagogical Materials on Student Performance  

In this section, I am adopting a narrow definition of pedagogical material to mean textbooks 

and technological gadgets. The knowledge about the influence of textbooks and technological 

gadgets is a mixed one.  

The majority of comprehensive studies on the effectiveness of teaching concur that textbooks 

and other learning resources are crucial for student achievement. For example, Velez et al., 

(1993) or Fuller and Clarke (1994) reviewed School Effectiveness studies in developing 

countries all over the world and found that approximately 50% of the reviewed studies proved 

significant positive associations between academic achievements and school inputs such as 

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textbooks and other instructional materials. However, they conclude that “the marginal effect 

of dropping more inputs into classrooms […] will surely diminish as basic quality levels rise“ 

(Fuller and Clarke, 1994, p. 134). A decade later, the importance of textbooks was confirmed 

by the World Bank‘s Operations Evaluation Department’s review on the “determinants of 

education quality in developing countries” (Boissiere, 2004) as well as in studies by  

Michaelowa, (2001) in five Francophone Sub-Saharan African countries and Lee et al., (2005) 

in Southern and Eastern Africa. More recently, Ajoke, (2017) showed that when learning 

English as a second language, students in an experimental group that were taught with visual 

instructional materials performed significantly better in an exam in comparison to those in the 

control group that had no access to instructional materials. Also, in the Democratic Republic of 

the Congo, The availability of textbooks and financial incentives to take books home raised 

language test results and the likelihood that students would take the end of year exam. (Falisse 

et al., 2020) 

However, there are also studies that dispute that more books are the simple and cost-effective 

solution to poor school quality. Some studies such as Glewwe et al., (2009) showed that 

providing textbooks only improved the performance of students that were already 

“academically inclined” while Evans et al., (2014) reported no impact at all in Sierra Leone. 

These studies corroborated earlier reports. Hanushek, (2005, 1995) and Hanushek and Luque, 

(2003) for instance  argue that “there are no clear and systematic relationships between key 

inputs and student performance” (Hanushek, 1995, p. 232). The main argument is that the 

availability of resources does neither ensure their appropriateness nor their correct and efficient 

use. Hanushek claims this is true for both developed and developing countries. However, the 

sampled countries are all relatively wealthy, e.g. no African country is included in the analysis. 

Hence, the generalization of their findings to developing countries is problematic, particularly 

for African contexts and could also be a confirmation of Fuller and Clarke, (1994) thesis of the 

decreasing marginal utility of teaching and learning inputs. However, a weakness of all 

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quantitative studies is that they do not tell us about the quality of inputs, their suitability to 

curriculum or the school environment, whether they form part of an integrated plan for quality 

improvement initiative or indeed whether they are actually being used (Crossley and Murby, 

1994; O’Sullivan, 2006). 

In terms of education technology, when such technologies are effectively deployed they can 

complement traditional input (Bulman and Fairlie, 2016). Although there are no large scale 

cross country studies on the topic, For instance, in Nigeria, providing e-readers with curricular 

content in areas where textbooks were scarce (Habyarimana and Sabarwal, 2018). Johnston and 

Ksoll, (2017) proved in Ghana by experimenting with 70 randomly selected rural schools that 

with the technology for distance teaching (connection to a teaching studio in the capital), 

literacy and maths skills could be improved significantly. Similarly, in Senegal, the availability 

of interactive whiteboards impacted learning (Lehrer et al., 2019) and in Zambia, the provision 

of tablets and projectors to teachers impacted literacy and numeracy skills of first graders (Hoop 

et al., 2020). Reading proficiency improved in Kenyan primary schools was attributed to the 

use of interactive literacy software and a collection of digital books and stories. (Lysenko et al., 

2019). Similar in Zambia, a phone based literacy game improved spelling abilities of students 

(Jere-Folotiya et al., 2014).  

On the other hand, there are also some studies that find little to no impact of technology on 

student performance. For example, in Malawi, there was no impact on the performance of 

students that were provided access to Wikipedia and those who had no access (Derksen et al., 

2020). Similarly, learning software together with the technological equipment needed to use 

the software had no consistent impact on primary school student learning in Angola (Cardim et 

al., 2021). Indeed, some experiments in South Africa suggest that in person studies is better for 

the long term skills acquisition as well as English oral communication of early learners than 

distance learning facilitated by technology (Kotze et al., 2019; Cilliers et al., 2022b).   

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2.6.4 Influence of Teacher Quantity and Quality on Student Performance 

The most common way of accessing the influence of teacher quantity on student performance 

has been through pupil teacher ratio. At first glance, one may be deceived by the evidence (see. 

For example Filges et al., 2018, Hanushek, 2005 and Hattie, 2005) teacher ratio does not 

necessarily lead to better performance. However, the stage of education determines whether the 

above claim is true or false.   

For primary education – which is of interest to this thesis – there are some findings proving that 

class sizes have effects on performance of pupils at the primary stages. One of those studies is 

contained in UNICEF’s (2021) policy brief for ministers of Education and Finance in West and 

Central Africa. 

On the other hand, some studies find no positive impact of a reduced class size on academic 

performance. When the pupil-teacher ratio for grade 1 was reduced from 82 to 44 in Kenyan 

primary schools, it had no effect on test scores for pupils who remained within the standard 

system (Duflo et al., 2015). This is attributed to the reduction in effort of the teachers. Indeed 

in South Africa, Köhler, (2022) finds that classroom size is only important to performance when 

other factors such as poverty are factored into the equation. 

The quality dimension of teachers as input shows that teacher professional development has 

effects on student participation.  

One of the most authoritative work on cross-national studies of teachers’ formal education and 

its impact on pupils is Majgaard and Mingat’s (2012) work to show that teachers’ educational 

attainment beyond 10-11 years of general education before entering their pedagogical training. 

However, training and retraining has positive effects on the student performance. Earlier 

reviews showed promising evidence on pedagogical interventions (Conn, 2017), but that is not 

to say that most teacher professional development programmes are effective. On the contrary, 

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the vast majority of at-scale teacher professional development programmes in Africa (and 

elsewhere) go unevaluated in any serious way and many among those do not have the 

characteristics common to programmes that have been shown to be effective (Popova et al., 

2018). Still, recent evidence bolsters the view that teacher professional development—

particularly coaching programmes—can be effective at boosting student learning outcomes. For 

examples, see Duflo et al., (2020), Beg et al., (2020), Wolf et al., (2019) and/or Amadu et al., 

(2020) in Ghana; Cilliers et al., (2019) and Cilliers et al., (2022a) in South Africa; Jukes et al., 

(2017) and Donfouet et al., (2018) in Kenya; Özler et al., (2018) in Malawi and Blimpo and 

Pugatch, (2021) in Rwanda. 

2.6.5 Influence of Integrated School Health on Student Performance 

Studies on health programmes and their impacts on pupil performance are generally fewer than 

in the non-health area (Sabet and Brown, 2018).  

Morgan et al., (2017) studied the influence of WaSH programmes in primary schools in 

Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zambia. They find a positive relationship 

between the availability of WaSH programmes in primary schools and better school outcomes. 

The above position is further supported by Chirgwin et al., (2021) that reviewed several WaSH 

programmes across low – and middle-income countries including African countries such as 

Kenya. 

2.7 Teaching and Learning Inputs in Ghana: State of the Arts 

In this section, I intend to bring home the discussion of the existing literature on the five 

dimensions of basic education investment in Ghana. To do this, I will narrow my focus on those 

literary works that focus solely on Ghana.  

2.7.1 State of Basic School Infrastructure   

Basic school availability or inadequacy of infrastructure has been figured for many anomalies 

in Ghana’s pre-tertiary setting. For example, Anlimachie and Avoada, (2020) contend that the 

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rural-urban divide in pre-tertiary education in Ghana is primarily caused by infrastructure. It 

also affects the high attrition rate amongst pre-tertiary teachers (Agezo, 2010) as it is estimated 

that between 20% to 25% of school dropouts are attributable to poor basic education 

infrastructure (Ghanaian Times, 07/22/2022). The Schools under Trees and Emergency 

Intervention Programme (SUTEMIP) is a Government of Ghana intervention to improve on the 

inadequacy of basic education infrastructure. The project sought to construct 5000 schools by 

2016 but could only complete 1400 schools by 2015. The project has been evaluated to have 

under-achieved due to project management challenges (Atia, 2018).  

Basic infrastructure has not improved significantly at the basic education level. It is reported 

that there are about 5403 basic schools under trees, sheds and dilapidated structures by the 

ministry of education’s count (Ghana Web, 10/29/2021). As of the time of writing this thesis, 

it was estimated that an amount of 3.5 billion Ghana Cedis is needed to remove the 5406 basic 

schools under trees (Ghana Education Service, 2021).  

From the website of the Ghana Education Service, the sector is now solely reliant on the 

VALCO Trust Fund project to eliminate the schools under trees (Ghana Education Service, 

2021). Indeed, a look at subsequent government budgetary allocations to the basic education 

sector makes no provision for removing schools under trees (Ministry of Education, 2022). 

2.7.2 State of the Provision of Pedagogical Materials  

There is the general understanding that there is inadequacy of pedagogical materials which is 

also referred to as teaching and learning materials. As early as 2012, the Ministry of Education 

reported on the unavailability of teaching and learning materials (Ministry of Education, 2012). 

Indeed, the situation has not improved as recently as in 2021 (Oppong Frimpong, 2021). The 

unavailability of teaching and learning materials are reported to be significantly widespread in 

the country (Oppong Frimpong, 2021).  

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The inadequacy of teaching and learning materials in Ghana is documented in various 

publications across the country. Global Education Monitoring Report Team (2022) reported 

that their stakeholder engagements in Ghana shows absence of textbooks for the new 

curriculum in all schools they visited. Printing and distributing of NaCCA-approved textbooks 

for all subjects and classes covered by the 2019 curriculum is an urgent priority. In the Central 

Region of Ghana, Adu-Yeboah’s (2020) work revealed through stakeholder engagements that 

the delay in the supply of teaching and learning materials hamper smooth running of academic 

work irrespective of school type and settlement. Similar studies in the Central region is the work 

of Quansah et al., (2019) in the area of teaching and learning materials of integrated science. 

Benedict (n.d) has extensively reported on the short supply of teaching and learning materials 

in rural Ghana especially in the Northern regions from the perspective of a non-governmental 

practitioner. Amuzu et al., (2022)  also corroborates the position of Benedict that the lack of 

teaching and learning materials are very predominant in the northern parts of Ghana. 

The challenges in the provision of basic schools with teaching and learning materials is reported 

to have negative consequences for pupils’ performance in end of term and final BECE exams. 

It is not surprising that in northern Ghana where there is little supply of teaching and learning 

materials, the factor tops all teaching environment factors that contribute to the negative 

performance of pupils in the BECE examinations (Abdallah et al., 2014). In the southern part 

of Ghana, Baidoo-Anu, (2018) ranks teaching and learning materials to place second in 

influencing student performance in the Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa District.  

In view of the negative effects teaching and learning materials are having on performance, 

development partners such as the USAID are increasing their support in the area (The Daily 

Guide, 2/9/2022). 

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2.7.3 The State of Teacher Quantity and Quality 

In the last decade, the number of primary school teachers in Ghana has been increasing in total 

(UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2022). However, this trend looks less auspicious when a 

closer look is taken at the distribution of teachers. A survey on teacher attrition conducted by 

Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) in 2018 revealed that majority of teachers in 

Ghana dislike teaching in rural areas (Sottie, 5/8/2019). The study carried out in five districts 

within the Central Region in Ghana suggests that less than two thirds (60.4%) of the Primary 

and Junior High school teachers in those regions were trained whereas more than one third 

(39.6%) were untrained.  

Another survey by the Teachers and Education Workers Union (TEWU) in 2010 revealed that 

in rural areas the teacher:pupil ratio is substantially higher in rural areas than in urban areas 

(Sottie, 5/8/2019). While the national average is 1:29, in some rural schools in Sekyere Central 

District, Ashanti Region-Ghana, one teacher is responsible for up to 87 students (Azewara et 

al. 2021). Also, teacher attrition is a problem in Ghanaian schools. According to several studies, 

about 10,000 teachers leave the classroom every year, notably in rural areas, to look elsewhere 

for better employment (Bame 1991; McCall 2021; Acheampong and Gyasi 2019). As long 

recognised, frequent and constant changes of staff at a school have negative implications. They 

lead not only to poorer quality in terms of pupils’ discipline and performance (Theobald, 1990; 

Konadu, 1994; Evans and Yuan, 2018; Alolo, 2016) but are as well obstructive for the long-

term planning and development of schools (Ingersoll, 2001; Ingersol et al., 2018).  

Further, the motivation and necessary dedication of otherwise jobless (young) people that see 

teaching as a bye-pass venture to a job they actually have been trained for and they desire is 

unsurprisingly low (Akinfe et al., 2012). The lack of appreciation and respect towards rural 

school teachers by parents and community members reinforces the low commitment of such 

teachers (Anlimachie, 2015; Anlimachie and Avoada, 2020; Essuman and Akyeampong, 2011). 

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There is one relatively recent study in Ghana that seeks to understand the relationship between 

students' academic achievement and teacher quality (Bonney et al., 2015). Motivation for the 

study was an outcry that the academic performance of pupils in Sekondi Takoradi Metropolitan 

Assembly (STMA) is lower than anticipated as a majority of the pupils cannot speak English 

well and read fluently despite the fact that most teachers at the schools that were included in 

the analysis held the necessary academic qualifications to be a teacher in Ghana. The authors 

conducted an effectiveness rating of the teachers including their qualification and survey results 

about their teaching methods. The study's findings, however, indicate that there was no 

correlation (r=0.451) between the academic performance of the students and the quality of the 

teachers in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly. This finding contradicts earlier 

studies from Nigeria by Adu and Olatundun (2007), Lockheed and Komenan (1988) and 

Maduka (2000) which indicated that effective teachers produced high performing students. The 

discrepancy between the studies ‘findings does not only underline the difficulty of measuring 

‘teacher quality’ but also suggests that the causes for academic performance of pupils are likely 

to be multifaceted. 

2.7.4 The Provision of Food  

It is clear in the literature that feeding students, especially at the basic level in relatively poorer 

countries has an influence on the performance of students. In Ghana, the Ghana School Feeding 

Programme is the government’s initiative to provide basic school pupils with food.  The GSFP 

was piloted in 2005 with 10 pilot schools and currently covers over 2,600,000 beneficiary pupils 

in about 9000 schools in all the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (Ghana School 

Feeding Programme, 2021). The programme is seen by some scholars as a politically popular 

social protection (Alderman and Bundy, 2012).  

There is scientific work that proves that there is a positive relationship between the GSFP and 

school enrolment, retention and cognitive performance across Ghana (Salifu et al., 2018; 

Milledzi et al., 2017; Aliu and Fawzia, 2014; Owusu Gyasi et al., 2018; Konzabre 2018; Abdul 

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– Kudus, 2011; Tagoe, 2018; Odame, 2014). Of the studies that investigated the impact of the 

GSFP on test score/academic performance and cognitive effects, Aliu and Fawzia, (2014) 

discovered that students who received school meals performed better on tests and were more 

attentive in class in the Tamale Metropolis. Owusu Gyasi et al., (2018) found out that the quality 

of food provided to beneficiary pupils improved their academic performance in the Bawku 

Municipality. Milledzi et al., (2017) also found an increase in the academic performance of 

pupils as the GSFP was introduced in South Tongu District in the Volta Region. Tagoe, (2018) 

also found significant improvement in the academic performance of primary school pupils in 

the Accra central district. Abdul – Kudus, (2011) and Konzabre, (2018) also claim there is an 

association between the GSFP and cognitive development due to the retention in schools and 

academic progression of beneficiaries. The only study that did not find a consistent finding is 

Odame, (2014). Odame, (2014) examined the effect of the GSFP on educational achievement 

in the Tema municipality. The study found that pupils’ test scores improved in some of the 

benefiting schools, but the test results were inconsistent. 

There are several studies that have appraised the GSFP and its influence on student 

performance. One of the recurrent themes in the literature relates to the problematic nature of 

beneficiary school selection which is motivated largely by political patronage and not by 

poverty and low enrolment (Botchwey, 2021). Because of the intended political gains, the 

programme is not only thinly spread but also creating inequality amongst beneficiary and non-

beneficiary schools (Manful et al., 2015). Iddrisu et al., (2022) turned their attention to how the 

non-involvement of GES and school teachers in the feeding programme limits the potential of 

the programme to enhance enrolment and attendance. 

2.7.5 The Provision of Medical Services 

Health service provision to children within the age bracket of basic schools is not tied to school 

enrolment in Ghana. Historically, Ghana’s approach to health care delivery has been universal 

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because of the predominantly socialist posturing of governments since independence (Abukari 

et al., 2015). Currently in Ghana, the National Health Insurance Scheme is the state subsidised 

health care providing programme in Ghana. The National Health Insurance provides free health 

service for children from the ages of 0 to 5 years and the coverage is widespread amongst this 

age group (Anaba et al., 2022). This age group is largely found in kindergartens to primary 

class one. Also, there is the indirect exemption of children under the age of 18 whose parents 

are insured (Kanchebe Derbile and van der Geest, 2013). This means that majority of school 

going children are likely to be insured since about 68.6% of adult Ghanaians are insured (Ghana 

Statistical Service, 2022) .  By the mere fact that by parent insurance, children can have access 

to health care, leads to a reduction in health expenditure hence can be used on educational 

spending. Based on the above proposition, Kofinti et al., (2022) used data from the seventh 

round of the Ghana Living Standard Survey to demonstrate that disadvantaged households' 

subscription to Ghana's National Health Insurance Scheme enhances the learning outcomes of 

their children.  

Aside the NHIS coverage of students, there is also some evidence of school based health 

programme albeit mostly studied in second cycle schools and those at the basic level are 

delivered by development partners. For example, Brooker et al., (2001) studied the perception 

of people towards school-based delivery of anthelmintics in Ghana and Tanzania. They found 

that the programme is perceived to improve the wellbeing of beneficiaries and contributes to 

their academic performance. There is no evidence in the literature about government support 

for first aid medication in basic schools.  However, Owusu-Addo, (2019) shows  that first aid 

is offered to students in schools to treat minor illnesses, ease pain, and support victims until 

specialists arrive in Ghana. Perhaps the researcher could find out whether government provides 

this support or the funding is from internally generated funds.  

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2.8 Concluding Remarks  

From the above, it is clear government policies have implications for the academic performance 

of students. There could also be knock-on effects of one policy targeted at a subset of a whole 

on another subset. In this regard, there are reports in the literature on the possible effects of the 

Free SHS policy on basic education. For this thesis, the interest is whether the policy affects 

governments’ provision of input or not. 

From the universal literature, the literature on the relationship between government input into 

basic education and academic performance is not strong but the field is also quite mature. This 

provides the needed academic foundation for my work in Ghana. From the numerous works of 

the authorities in the field, I identified the most relevant inputs that influence the academic 

performance of students at the basic level. 

When the framework of the most relevant inputs was applied to Ghana, the existing literature 

revealed that these inputs are provided by the government but spread very thinly. The 

insufficiency in the provision means the needed effects may not be achieved. With the above 

emerging reports of unintended effects of the Free SHS initiative could only mean that these 

inputs are going to suffer the more. These claims are speculative since no research to the best 

of my knowledge has investigated the effect of the Free SHS policy on government provision 

of inputs at the basic level.  

Based on the above lacuna in the literature, I asked the research questions: (1) How has the Free 

SHS Policy affect the supply of teaching and learning inputs from the government, (2) How has 

the state of input supplies affect teaching and learning and (3) How has the state of input 

supplies affect students’ academic performance? 

By answering the above questions, my work is setting the pace in studying the effect of the free 

SHS Policy on basic education. Aside this, I will be contributing to the larger body of literature 

by going beyond the demonstrated strong relations between inputs (independent variable) and 

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performance (dependent variable) to answer the “how” question which is mostly ignored in this 

field of study. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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CHAPTER THREE 

METHODOLOGY  

3.1 Introduction 

This chapter outlines the methods of the study area, the research design, sample size, sampling 

procedure, methods of data collection and the various statistical methods used in the analysis 

of the different objectives.  

3.2 Study Area 

The research was conducted in the Akuapem North Municipality, located in the Eastern Region 

of Ghana. The Akuapem North Municipal Assembly (ANMA) was first established as a District 

Assembly in 1998 and became a Municipality in 2012. The Municipality is located at the south-

eastern part of the Eastern Region about 58 kilometers from Accra on the Akuapem Togo 

Range. It shares boundaries with the Dangbe West Municipality at the north-east, the Akuapem 

South District Assembly at the south-east, the Suhum Municipal Assembly at the west, and the 

New Juabeng Municipal Assembly to the north. It covers a land mass of 75,399 square 

kilometres and has a current population of 236,483 (anma.gov.gh, 22/10/2022).   

Figure 3.1: Map of Akuapem North Municipality 

 
Source: Google maps, 2023. 

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3.3 Research Design 

A research design is defined as “a blueprint for conducting a study with maximum control over 

factors that may interfere with the validity of the findings” (Burns and Grove, 2003), and it is 

required to offer a suitable framework for a study. The research design for this study was a 

mixed method design incorporating both qualitative – through Focus Group Discussions and 

Key Informant Interviews, and quantitative methods - through the administering of 

questionnaires. Data for the study was gathered from three groups of people. These were 

students, teachers and head teachers from the selected schools within the Akuapem North 

Municipality.  

The Focus Group Discussions were used for the teachers, the Key Informant Interviews were 

used for the head teachers and the questionnaires were used for the students. Data was collected 

from a total of two hundred and sixty-four (264) respondents from eight (8) Junior High Schools 

within the municipality. Out of the two hundred and sixty-four respondents, two hundred and 

forty were students, twenty were teachers and four were head teachers. 

Both qualitative and quantitative methodologies were used in this study because either of them 

were not sufficient enough in capturing all the requisite information needed to adequately 

answer the research questions that the study sought to provide answers to. In light of this, 

questionnaires, Key Informant Interviews and Focus Group Discussions were used to gather 

the information needed for this research. 

3.4 Sampling 

A stratified random sampling procedure was used to select the schools and respondents for the 

survey. Stratified random sampling is a probabilistic sampling procedure where the population 

is divided into strata, and the aim is to group the population into important categories which are 

important for the purposes of the study. Afterwards, a simple random sample is drawn from 

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each stratum. This type of sampling procedure is used when the sects of the strata are seen to 

be very important or unique to the researcher for the study.  

In this study, the population was divided into two strata namely the rural and urban sects within 

the Akuapem North Municipality. This was done because both the rural and urban sects within 

the municipality have unique features that are relevant for this study and the sample had to be 

as representative as possible. Furthermore within each strata, there was an advance grouping 

done to sort them on the basis of mission schools and district or municipal assembly schools. 

After these divisions, then a random sample was drawn to choose two (2) schools from these 

four (4) stratums to get the schools to be interviewed. 

Table 3.1 estimates the diverse respondents within the study population. 

Table 3.1: Sampling Frame 

Name of 

Respondents 

Sample Frame Sample Identification 

Pupils 240 - Register of pupils in Akropong Anglican JHS 1-2 

- Register of pupils in Akropong M/A. JHS 1-2 

- Register of pupils in Larteh Presby JHS 1-2 

- Register of pupils in Larteh  M/A JHS 1-2 

- Register of pupils in Kwamoso Presby JHS 1-2 

- Register of pupils Saforo M/A JHS 1-2 

- Register of pupils in Yensiso Methodist JHS 1-2 

- Register of pupils in Mampong Nkwanta M/A JHS 1-2 

Teachers 20 - List of teachers in Akropong Anglican JHS  

- List of teachers in Larteh M/A JHS 

- List of teachers in Kwamoso Presby JHS 

- List of teachers in Mampong Nkwanta M/A JHS 

Head 

teachers 

4 - Head teacher in Akropong M.A. JHS 

- Head teacher in Larteh Presby JHS 

- Head teacher in Saforo M/A JHS 

- Head teacher in Yensiso Methodist JHS 

Source: Author’s Construct, October 18, 2022. 

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Following the sampling process, 240 elementary school students, 20 instructors (five from each 

school), and 4 head teachers made up the sample for this survey. A summary of the sample 

distribution is shown in Table 3.2. 

Table 3.2: Distribution of Study Respondents according to School Type 

Participants Urban  

Mission  

Schools (2) 

Urban Municipal 

Assembly Schools 

(2) 

Rural 

Mission  

Schools (2) 

Rural Municipal 

Assembly 

Schools (2) 

Total 

Pupils 60 60 60 60 240 

 

Teachers 5 5 5 5 20 

 

Head 

Teachers 

1 1 1 1 4 

 

Total 66 66 66 66 264 

Source: Author’s Construct, October 18, 2022. 

3.5 Instrumentation 

There are a number of instruments for gathering data from the field and the selected instruments 

used in gathering data for this study were questionnaire and interview guides. These tools were 

assigned to different categories of respondents in order to retrieve the right responses for the 

benefit of this study. 

3.6 Sources and Type of Data 

The study incorporated both primary and secondary data. Primary data were retrieved using 

face-to-face interviews, Focus Group Discussions and self-administered questionnaires directly 

from the students, teachers and head teachers while the secondary data were retrieved from the 

Ghana Education Service - Akuapem North Municipality, the selected school class registers, 

academic records, stock and property registers.  

Also, both qualitative and quantitative data was collected for the study. The primary qualitative 

data was collected using Focus Group Discussions, and Key Informant Interviews. The 

quantitative data was also collected through the administering of questionnaires. The 

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questionnaires were administered to the students in the eight schools to gather answers on the 

specific information needed for the purposes of the study. Thirty (30) students were selected 

from each school with fifteen students from each level (JHS1 – JHS2). Support in terms of 

translating the questions into the local dialect was offered to students who had difficulties in 

understanding some questions. 

Different types of interview were used for different types of respondents. Four (4) Key 

Informant Interviews were used in sourcing data from head teachers from four out of the eight 

schools and a Focus Group Discussing was used for the other four schools in sourcing data from 

teachers. This meant that schools where Focus Group Discussions were conducted did not have 

a Key Informant Interview and vice versa. Both the Key Informant Interviews and Focus Group 

Discussions helped to gather in-depth information on the current state of investment received 

from the government and how it affected teaching and learning. 

3.7 Analysis of Data 

The field data after collation, were reviewed to be able to identify questions that were not 

answered or partially answered. Then the open ended questions were assigned codes in order 

to be able to make it readable by the data analysis software package. The codes were entered 

into the SPSS Software version 26. After both data were generated, the data was analyzed using 

descriptive statistics which includes frequency distributions, percentages, and means. The 

responses from the Focus Group Discussions and Key Informant Interviews were transcribed 

and coded using the MaxQDA software. The transcripts were summarized into meaningful 

formats and the results were interlinked with the results from the quantitative analysis for 

interpretation and discussion. 

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3.8 Variable Description and Measurement 

3.8.1 Academic Performance 

The dependent variable academic performance was measured by the terminal results of the 

respondents from JHS One and JHS Two. 

The independent variables are food provision, school construction, pedagogical materials, 

teacher quality and quantity, and integrated school health. 

3.8.2 Food Provision 

The provision of food was measured by the availability of the School Feeding Programme and 

the number of days students benefited from the programme. 

3.8.3 School Construction 

The independent variable of school construction was measured by the availability of classroom 

blocks, library, staff common room, ICT lab and a canteen. 

3.8.4 Pedagogical Materials 

The pedagogical materials were measured by the availability of teaching and learning materials 

and how frequent these materials were received. 

3.8.5 Teacher Quantity and Quality 

Teacher quantity and quality was measured by the number of teachers in the school and the 

subjects allocated to them. The quality of the teachers is also measured by the academic 

qualifications of the teachers as well as their techniques of teaching. 

3.8.6 Integrated School Health 

The integrated school health variable was measured by the availability of health facilities or 

any measure taken to provide first aid to students and teachers in the school. 

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3.9 Apriori Expectation 

Based on the above discussion, the theoretical and conceptual frameworks for this study, the 

following are the expectations of the study. 

1. The rate of government’s investment into the basic education sector is expected to 

decline. 

2. The teaching process is expected to be affected negatively.  

3. The learning process is expected to be affected negatively. 

4. Academic performance is expected to decline. 

3.10 Ethical Considerations 

Ethical standards were upheld to ensure sensitivity in collecting and presenting the data. During 

the data collection process for this study, the respondents’ anonymity was upheld by using 

pseudo characters and numbers to represent them. Permission was sought from the school head 

teachers before the pupils were interviewed and a teacher representative was assigned to 

oversee the process at a distance since the data was collected in the schools. For the teachers 

and head teachers, permission was sought directly from them since they were above 18 years. 

Before a teacher or head teacher was interviewed, a consent statement was read out to them 

before the discussions or interviews were conducted. The confidentiality of the responses were 

maintained, and in order to prevent plagiarism, all references were appropriately acknowledged.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

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CHAPTER FOUR 

DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 

4.1 Introduction 

This chapter aims at presenting and discussing the findings obtained from the data collected 

concerning the effect of the Free SHS policy on government’s investment in Basic Education 

in Ghana and how it affects academic performance within the Akuapem North Municipality 

based on the five inputs conceptualized for this study.  

The first section of this chapter describes the demographic characteristics of the respondents, 

the second section presents findings on the state of input supplies on the five inputs namely 

school building construction, pedagogical materials, teacher quality and quantity, provision of 

food and integrated health services. The third section presents findings on the effect of the 

current state of inputs on teaching and learning. The findings on the effect of the inputs on 

academic performance is also presented in the fourth section and finally, the fifth section 

presents findings on the perception of respondents on whether the implementation of the Free 

SHS has affected government’s investment into basic education or not. 

4.2 Demographic characteristics of respondents 

4.2.1 Age and sex of respondents 

The 240 respondents who participated in this study were sampled from Akropong M/A JHS, 

Akropong Anglican JHS, Larteh Presby JHS, Larteh M/A JHS, Mampong Nkwanta M/A JHS, 

Yensiso Methodist JHS, Saforo M/A JHS, and Kwamoso Presby JHS. Out of the 240 pupils 

surveyed, 107 of them were males making up 44.6% and 133 of them were females making up 

55.4%. The age distribution of the respondents confirmed all students to be of school going 

ages since the oldest pupil was 19 years old and the youngest pupil was 12 years old however 

with the oldest pupil, it is seen that his education has been delayed since by 19 years, he is 

supposed to be at the SHS level. The average age of the pupils was 14.2 years old. 

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4.2.2 Means of getting to school and the duration 

The study investigated the various means the pupils used to get to school and how long it took 

them to get to school. This is because the study wanted to have a fair idea of the effort pupils 

put in to get to school. Out of the 240 pupils, 170 pupils making up 70.8% walked to school, 

50 pupils making up 20.8% picked a car to school, 18 pupils making up 7.5% either walked or 

picked a car to school, and 2 pupils making up 0.8% rode a bicycle to school. On the duration 

they get to school, it was noticed that 34.7% spent 1-10 minutes to get to school, 27% spent 11-

20 minutes to get to school, 15% spent 21-30 minutes to get to school, 13.3% spent 31-40 

minutes to get to school, 9.2% spent 41-50 minutes to get to school and 0.8% spent 51-60 

minutes to get to school. The mean score for the minutes pupils walked to school was 16.05 

minutes, the minutes people sat in a car to school was 19.50 minutes and the mean score for the 

minutes pupils rode bicycles to school was 18.33 minutes. This indicates that on an average, 

students who walked to school spent approximately 16 minutes to walk to school, those who 

came by car spent approximately 19 minutes to get to school and those who rode bicycles spent 

approximately 18 minutes to school. 

4.2.3 Caregiver 

The study also investigated who was responsible for the educational needs of the pupils whether 

it were their actual parents, other relatives or their caregivers this is because the living 

arrangements of the pupils can affect their academic performance (Adane 2013). The results 

indicates that out of the 240 pupils, 118 pupils constituting 49.2% said their fathers were the 

ones who takes care of their educational needs, 72 pupils constituting 30.0% said their 

educational needs were taken care of by their mothers, 31 pupils making up 12.9% said other 

relatives takes care of their education needs, and 19 pupils making up 7.9% said their 

educational needs were taken care of by their caregivers. This indicates a fair distribution 

between fathers and mothers as far as supporting their children’s educational needs is 

concerned. 

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4.2.4 Educational Level of Caregivers 

Research proves that the level of education of parents or caregivers is significantly associated 

with the educational achievement of their children. According to Anamuah-Mensah et. al., 

(2007), parents who are educated are likely to value the education of their children more, and 

this is proven through them buying their books and other learning materials, as well as assisting 

them with their assignments and home learning.  

The results indicate that, out of 240 the pupils, 117 pupils (48.8%) had their caregivers educated 

up to the basic level,  75 pupils (31.3%) had their caregivers educated up to the secondary level, 

35 pupils (14.6%) had their caregivers educated up to the tertiary level, and 13 pupils (5.4%) 

caregivers were uneducated. The study wanted to investigate if there were any distinct 

characteristics between schools in the rural and urban areas, as well as mission and municipal 

assembly schools hence the schools were grouped according to their geographical location as 

well as their ownership and control. Disaggregating the schools into rural and urban schools, 

the results on educational level indicated that majority (83.2%) of the caregivers of pupils in 

the rural areas were educated up to the basic level and majority (31.3% and 48.8%) of the 

caregivers of pupils in the urban areas were educated up to the secondary and tertiary levels 

respectively. It is evident that, caregivers of pupils in the rural areas have lower educational 

levels as compared to caregivers of pupils in the urban sect of the municipality.  

4.2.5 Occupation of Caregivers 

Usually, the occupation of caregivers is used to measure their socio-economic status, and it is 

indicative that caregivers in formal sector occupations are likely to have higher incomes and 

the same applies to caregivers with occupations in the informal sector all things being equal. 

Pupils who have their caregivers in