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According to the Ibis EfE Baseline 13,142 children and youth were enrolled in the system in the academic year 2004/2005. This leaves between 2,000 - 3,500 children and youth out-of school. In spite of lack of certainty as to the exact numbers, this signifies that out-of-school children constitute 14 - 22 % of all children in the settlement. According to the Ibis baseline study 1,435 pupils dropped out of the school system between 2004/2005 first and second terms.
Most parents/guardians withdraw or do not send their wards to school due to high school fees being charged by proprietors of the schools. Some do not send their children to school at all. There are no fixed fees or regulation governing charging of school fees resulting in ad hoc increases in fees almost every term. Even though UNHCR has intervened by supplementing allowances of teachers in some selected schools for proprietors to reduce fees, it has not really worked in many cases.
According the Central Education Board there are 43 schools operating in the camp. Of these, only eleven schools meet the minimum standard requirements of Ghana, apart from the two public schools in the camp. Religious bodies, the refugee community and private individuals run these schools, which need to improve to meet the standard set by GES.
The overall quality of education at Buduburam is therefore indeed poor in terms of content, delivery, supervision and monitoring as well as performance. One major issue is schools competing for students rather than what actually goes into quality teaching. The more children one has in a school the more money, leading to over crowding in schools with unqualified teachers. In academic year 2004/05 the student to classroom ratio was 65:1 and the student to teacher ratio even lower; 90:1.
There are 552 teachers (Ibis EfE Baseline) of which 21% (115 teachers) are untrained. Supervision of teaching and learning in schools as a measure for quality education is inadequate if not lacking. Central Education Board which is the governing body at Buduburam has limitations in terms of personnel and competent staff to do effective monitoring and supervision. This is further compounded by structural as well as financial constraints to effectively oversee what goes on in the schools.
According to CEB more girls than boys are enrolled in primary schools, while the number of males in schools is more than twice as high as the total number of females as the pupils move from JSS to the SSS.
The governing structure of schools which includes SMCs/PTAs is virtually absent in the schools on the camp. Only a handful of schools have such structures and even then they are defunct.
Ibis works for a just world, in which all people have equal access to education, influence and resources.
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