Girls and basic education - A cultural enquiry - Education Research Paper No. 23, 1998, 160 p.

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5. Culture and the economy: The impact of poverty on community, schooling and gender relations

5.1 Background and context
5.2 Culture and the economy: Voices of experience
5.3 The Power of culture: Experiencing possibilities

"Poverty is the common lot of Ghanaians"

Douglas Rimmer in Staying Poor: Ghana's Political Economy 1950-1990
Pergamon, Oxford, 1992.

"It is the poverty - generating processes which appear to be more gender -differentiated. In Ghana, education is perhaps the most visible of these processes".

Lawrence Haddad
"Gender and Poverty in Ghana: A descriptive Analysis of Selected Outcomes and Processes" in IDS Bulletin, 1991 Vol. 22 No. 1 IDS, University of Sussex.

"Despite the gains that Ghana has made, poverty remains a serious and extensive problem".
World Bank, 1995

L.K.T Dorvlo, an adult educator from the university of Ghana at Legon just outside Accra spent some time in 1978 with a group of Ewe speakers listening to the conversations of chiefs, elders and ordinary citizens with the aims of producing a word register of the most common words used by those speaking.

The list below of the five most commonly uttered words or concepts are revealing in telling us about the life of the common Ewe:

Figure L - From Dorvlo, L.K.T. Adult Literacy Teaching in Ghana: adapting the Freeream Approach and Technique, Ghana Universities Press, Accra, 1993.

Ewe	English
dowuawe	hunger
kododo	lack of money
ahedada	poverty
howu	overpricing of goods
kudidi	drought

Visiting Accra as a short term visitor or consultant one could easily generate a different vocabulary: road building, restaurants, bustling airports, foreign exchange bureaux; all a far cry from the experiences of the common Ewe farmers and a long way from the later 1970's when Ghana sank to the bottom of the pile economically, and some would say, politically.

It would be wrong though to assume that economic development and the incidence or lack of poverty is somehow part of that 'neutral' and value-free world of economics and therefore in some way outside the affairs of Man. What happened to Ghana during the military regimes of the late 1970's - and the preceding early years of Independence - and what has 'transformed' the country during the Rawlings' years are the result of priorities established, decisions - taken, albeit by powerful external interests, and policies implemented that reflect economic values, economic choices, an economic culture, that has, we would suggest, legitimised an economic order which promotes wealth and, of course, in so doing sanctions a necessary level of poverty.

Poverty is therefore not neutral but 'chosen' and Douglas Rimmer is wrong when he suggests that it is, 'the common lot of Ghanaians'. It is indeed the common experience of many who live in Ghana and yet as we shall see is a direct result of a cultural agenda established and developed since, 1970.

5.1 Background and context

5.1.1 The making of poverty
5.1.2 Poverty and schooling

5.1.1 The making of poverty

When the Gold Coast became the first European colony to gain Independence in 1957 the future looked promising. Export prices of cocoa and timber, two of Ghana's leading commodities, were healthy; the young and dynamic Kwame Nkrumah seemed set on prioritising health and education, and there seemed little likelihood of ethnic violence to disrupt internal economic development and deter foreign investment. He had even decided to press ahead with the scheme to construct the mighty Akosombo dam which would electrify the new country in more ways than one and set in motion a programme of industrialisation.

John Toye in his article "Ghana's economic reforms, 1983-87: origins, achievements and limitations" suggests that the unforeseen disastrous state of Ghana's economy twenty six years after Independence was as a result of three compounding sets of causes:

1. a flawed development strategy since the 1960's e.g. the priority given to industrialisation via over-taxation of cocoa production.

2. gross economic mismanagement and corruption between 1973-81 e.g. the printing of more money to fund large public works.

3. a simultaneous set of severe shocks in the early 1980's e.g. drought in 1983 reducing hydro-electric output from Akosombo by 20-25%, the repatriation by Nigeria of 500.000 Ghanaians, many of whom were public sector employees, and reduction in cocoa and timber exports because of widespread fires.

With a population increasing by about 2.5% to 3% per annum and a spiralling set of inflationary economic policies Ghana succeeded in moving in the 1970's from being a middle-income to a low-income country.

Culturally, it can be argued that, many of those living in sub-Saharan Africa belong more to families and communities than they do to nation-states. Many understand too that employment in a state-controlled industry or a public service bureaucracy is a reward for possessing what Charles Handy calls, "connection - power". The fact that Ghana, to quote Toye, "fell under the rule of a kleptocracy" (op. cit. p 45) can be attributed to cultural as well as traditionally 'economic' causes. The authoritarian style of Nkrumah, the stifling of political opposition and, we suspect, a Ghanaian sense of optimism that it would 'all be alright' in the end provided a heady cocktail of factors which would see a radical review of the way the country was run economically and politically with the arrival of Flight-Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings in 1979 and the Economic Recovery Programme (ERP) shortly after.

Supported by the World Bank and IMF the ERP, a structural adjustment programme or (SAP) put in place four years after the Rawlings coup emphasised the elimination of price controls, privatisation of state industries, removal of subsidies, free trade, and other orthodox liberal economic measures (Ho Won Jeong, 1995, p 82).

Having followed a SAP for the past thirteen or so years Ghana presents an interesting case for assessing the relative successes and failures in adopting such a recourse.

There would appear to be winners and losers. And a concern particularly by the World Bank to build a bridge between the two, or in its own words, "to develop the linkage between growth and poverty reduction" (World Bank, 1995). Another way of looking at this divide between successes and failures is to examine the situation from the macro and micro-economic perspectives. In so doing we build a bridge between national and international economic policies and their impact upon household economies. The winners appear to be macro economic policies and those individuals owning large export-oriented cocoa farm. Bank figures (op. cit. 1995) show an average growth of 4.7% p.a. since 1987, a fall of inflation from 123% in 1983 to 18% in 1991 - though it has now returned to about 50-60% p.a. - and an increase in external trade in GDP from 5% in 1983 to 55% in 1994. A result has been a relative decline in the importance of agriculture to the Ghanaian economy (1983-86, 50% of GDP to 40% in 1992-94) and an increase in service industries from 38% to 45% over the same period, making it the largest sector of the economy. Interestingly, a focus on exports has also seen the largely privatised gold mining sector replace cocoa as the leading export earner.

The winners of SAP have also been shopkeepers and traders benefiting from the lifting of state controls on producer prices. The adjustment programme has been very beneficial to the "comprador class" embracing a wide variety of occupations - from local agents of foreign business, partners and consultants to such businesses as hotel accommodation. Those who can afford to buy into state-owned enterprises often at concessional prices have also seen a dramatic increase in economic opportunities as have large local and foreign capitalists who have invested in export-oriented sectors, such as gold-mining, the timber industry, and other capital-intensive raw material-producing industries (Ho Won Jeong, op cit. p 86).

The losers, significantly, are to be found on the micro scale. Whereas intervention such as devaluation, trade policy, monetary and fiscal reform occur at macro level, household responses are at the micro level (ADB, 1995) and it is at this level that one can question the success of structural adjustment in countries such as Ghana.

The most vulnerable households now are those which depend on non-export crop agriculture for their livelihood, to be found mostly in the Northern areas of the country; and a poor urban class of Ghanaian reliant upon employment created by the 'boom' and yet hit hard by inflation and the introduction of 'cash 'n' carry' policies in public sector services such as health and education. It is salutary to note that whereas poverty nationally appears to have fallen from 37% in 1987-88 to 32% in 1991-92 and rural poverty from 42% to 34% (World Bank, 1995) poverty in Accra has, however increased from 7% in 1988 to 21% in 1992 (Business in Ghana, July-August, 1995).

A recent briefing paper, produced by BRIDGE, at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, reviewing gender issues in Ghana and summarising much work recently done in this area, suggests that the static picture of poverty given by quantitative data needs to be seen alongside the more qualitative work (e.g. Norton, A. et al 1993) which stresses the multidimensionality of poverty. Here the importance of distinguishing between poverty and destitution and issues of dependency and self-sufficiency emerge. The importance of social networks and support available to people in times of crisis also emerged. Urban poverty, as suggested above, is primarily related to labour market opportunities, whereas rural poverty is highly dependent on natural resource base (BRIDGE, March 1994 p 28).

If poverty - and growth - has its macro-economic characteristics then at a micro-level it can be seen in the responses of the household by means of coping strategies which vary depending on the region and whether the location is urban or rural. BRIDGE, focusing on the relationship between gender and poverty, also make the point that in the micro world of family and community coping strategies to limit the effects of poverty often adversely affect females living in those communities. They suggest that outmigration from the poor North to the relatively richer South may have deepened women's vulnerability given that females have less access to such migratory opportunities and that remittances received from absent partners are unreliable and often do not compensate for the loss of male labour (BRIDGE, op. cit. p 28).

The domain of poverty is, therefore, one populated by individuals whose relative lack of wealth is contingent upon location, gender and often as not age and health.

Evidence for this is easy to find. Action Aid, who has been concerned about the rise in the number of street children in the Northern town of Tamale (currently estimated at about 600) have recently (1996) commissioned an appraisal of their situation.

Interesting studies of this kind provide a meso picture bridging the macro world of adjustment programmes with the micro world of extended family and small rural community. In Tamale out - migration of both young men and young women seem to be poverty-driven with a younger generation seeking work in a more fertile South or in towns as male truck pushers or as female headload carriers. Motivated by a need to buy the necessary items for marriage and to support parents remaining at home, we now see a situation in which one generation, the younger, is not only having to look after itself, but is relied upon to support the older. Such a situation has implications for the targeting of aid and the development of effective intervention strategies.

If, street children apart, we accept the Bank's view that growth has led to a wealthier country and this has led to a reduction in aggregate poverty we can still ask the question: has the structural adjustment programme had a positive impact on the development of Basic education in Ghana? In particular has the SAP process improved the position of girls enrolling and remaining in school?

5.1.2 Poverty and schooling

Pauline Rose (1995) who has recently surveyed the impact of adjustment programmes on female education using a cross-country statistical analysis suggests that:

"In countries that have undertaken World Bank - supported adjustment programmes, a slow-down in the increase in average female - combined first and second-level gross school enrolment rates is observed between the pre-adjustment and adjustment phase. Furthermore, there has been an absolute decline in female enrolment rates in a number of adjusting countries over this period" (Rose, 1995 p 1931).

She also suggests that though the gap between male and female enrolment rates has narrowed in countries experiencing adjustment it has remained the same in her control group of countries, the reason for this being that the average male enrolment rate has fallen toward the lower average female enrolment rate.

In contrast, the gender gap has narrowed in the non-adjusting group of countries due to:

"Improvements in the averages of both male and female enrolment rates" (Rose, 1995 p 1944).

Her analysis suggests therefore that SAP's have had a negative effect on enrolment. Studies of this kind that attempt to compare and contrast complex national scenarios are useful in providing evidence up to a point. As Rose, acknowledges in her conclusions though,

"country case studies are required to unravel the factors affecting the supply of, and demand for the education of girls and boys at both the primary and secondary level" (ibid.)

In Ghana it is not easy to assess the impact of SAP on enrolment partly because the situation preceding SAP was so dire and partly because it is difficult to know if the situation would be any better or worse should a different economic path have been followed.

However, gross enrolment rates have inched up from 76.4% in 1989 to 78% in 1993 at the primary level. It is interesting to note, however, that when, in 1991, the Ministry of Education imposed textbook fees for primary education, absolute enrolments dropped by 3.5% for the first time in a decade (World Bank, May 24, 1966).

The recently completed Pattern of poverty in Ghana 1988-1992 produced by the Ghana Statistical Service and drawing on data from Ghana Living Standards Survey (1987/88), 1988/89, and 1991/92) provides the sort of quantitative depth required for a fuller understanding of the relationship between poverty and educational development. The complementary qualitative dimension will be provided by our respondents in the latter half of this section.

In terms of enrolment, the survey presents a similar picture to that given by World Bank figures: enrolments have increased steadily since 1987 with an estimated 26% of children not attending school in 1991/92. The authors of the survey echo Colclough (1994) in suggesting that the major reasons, particularly for not enrolling girls in school are economic: the opportunity cost of enrolling girls are higher than those for boys (females spending more time on household chores) and that the perceived economic returns to parents of sending their daughters to school tends to be lower than those for their sons, a suggestion being too that in patrilineal descent systems such as the North of Ghana girls are incorporated into their husband's families, while boys stay with that of their parents (see Eshiwani, 1985, for Kenya and Okeke 1989 for Nigeria quoted in Colclough op. cit.).

A look at net enrolment rates in primary school, by locality, expenditure quintile and gender shows that, though the national macro picture is reasonable in rural Savannah of the North as many as one half (51% in 1991/92) of children of primary school-going age are not in school compared with 11% in Accra.

Figure M - Net enrolment rates in primary schools by locality, expenditure quintile and gender

Locality	Gender	Quintile					All	Poverty status
		Lowest	Second	Third	Fourth	Highest		Very poor	Poor	Non poor
1987/88
Accra	Male	*300.0	*53.3	* 100.0	68.6	100.0	85.2	*60.0	* 100.0	85.4
	Female	*0.0	*61.5	*75.0	88.2	80.9	79.0	*75.0	*60.0	80.0
Other Urban	Male	103.8	104.9	108.6	93.6	97.7	102,0	103.4	101.6	101.5
	Female	81.6	79.6	88.4	82.4	86.9	83.6	76.5	84.3	86.0
Rural Coastal	Male	95.0	91.1	76.3	66.7	*76.9	82.2	95.9	93.5	72.4
	Female	64.6	67.6	50.0	65.2	65.6	64.1	65.5	72.7	58.0
Rural Forest	Male	95.7	86.7	101.8	111.3	98.1	98.3	95.1	93.0	101.1
	Female	70.7	81.6	90.9	82.9	71.2	79.8	72.0	74.4	85.2
Rural Savannah	Male	59.1	91.2	67.3	68.3	67.4	69.7	60.7	87.8	70.9
	Female	36.9	68.5	67.3	63.0	81.3	59.5	36.8	69.2	71.5
All	Male	86.5	91.5	93.6	88.1	88.9	89.7	86.1	94.5	90.1
	Female	63.0	75.6	79.1	78.4	77.9	74.4	62.4	75.8	79.1
	All	75.4	83.5	86.5	83,4	83,0	82.2	74.9	84.9	84.6
1988/89
Accra	Male	*83.3	*126.7	*112.5	*103.4	118.4	110.9	86.7	133.3	112.0
	Female	*62.5	*115.0	*92.3	*110.7	94.9	97.4	70.6	105.0	101.3
Other Urban	Male	108.9	113.9	110.4	120.9	104.0	112.2	113.0	112.5	111.7
	Female	87.3	81.7	83.1	104.2	92.5	89.3	93.8	72.6	93.8
Rural Coastal	Male	109.8	103.9	114.3	108.3	121.6	111.3	106.3	105.0	116.7
	Female	98.1	88.0	91.1	87.5	71.1	88.1	88.6	94.6	85.7
Rural Forest	Male	105.1	110.8	112.8	127.8	92.6	110.7	106.9	108.8	113.4
	Female	85.8	87.4	113.8	100.0	91.2	95.1	84.2	96.5	100.9
Rural Savannah	Male	55.2	58.1	72.4	102.6	131.3	68.9	55.7	62.1	90.7
	Female	31.1	74.3	57.4	94.7	88.9	62.5	36.7	79.2	76.9
All	Male	88.3	97.2	104.9	117.3	108.1	101.9	89.2	100.0	110.0
	Female	72.0	84.9	88.7	99.3	88.4	86.1	73.6	87.0	92.5
	All	80.2	91,1	97.1	107.7	98.1	93.9	81.6	93.4	101.1
1991/92
Accra	Male	*112.5	*148.1	*180.0	146.7	*112.0	138.9	122.2	135.7	142.6
	Female	100.0	*123.8	111.1	115.6	134.3	116.6	113.0	*88.0	124.7
Other Urban	Male	111.9	119.8	126.8	126.3	154.8	125.9	106.4	118.8	132.8
	Female	92.9	116.7	110.1	121.4	121.1	111.8	90.8	104.5	118.4
Rural Coastal	Male	91.9	122.0	123.0	128.0	144.4	119.6	97.6	107.0	128.6
	Female	80.0	93.4	95.8	126.7	128.6	101.1	66.7	103.8	109.1
Rural Forest	Male	126.0	127.8	109.8	124.0	129.9	123.1	125.0	127.8	121.0
	Female	99.3	113.7	114.3	118.8	126.9	112.3	104.7	100.0	119.2
Rural Savannah	Male	70.5	76.7	70.3	88.0	98.1	78.0	63.8	81.7	82.5
	Female	46.3	82.8	67.1	52.2	101.8	66.0	44.0	65.5	73.6
All	Male	101.2	113.3	110.9	118.1	130.7	113.0	98.4	110.4	118.1
	Female	81.4	104.7	100.0	102.8	120.9	99.8	80.6	92.7	107.5
	All	91.7	109.4	105.5	110.7	125.9	106.7	89.9	101.9	113.0

Source: The Pattern of Poverty in Ghana 1988-92 Ghana Statistical Service, Nov, 1995

Not surprisingly too the proportion of children out of school decreases as one moves up the expenditure quintile and similarly increased urbanisation leads to a decline in the proportion of children not in school.

What these figures tell us that there is "a strong and positive relationship" between enrolment and poverty status with, in 1991/92 for example, 21% of the non-poor out of school compared with 28% and 39% for the poor and very poor respectively. The pattern appears similar in the earlier years.

Figure N - Distribution of expenditure on market-purchased non-food commodities, by commodity type and expenditure quintile - urban areas

Commodity		Quintile								All		Poverty status
		Lowest	Second	Third		Fourth		Highest				Very poor	Poor	Non poor
1987/88
Tobacco		4.2	3.4	2.9		2.1		2.4		2.5	3.7		4.2	2.4
Soap		12.8	10.9	11.2		10.4		9.1		9.9	12.4		10.9	9.7
Charcoal		13.3	11.5	10.1		9.7		6.5		8.4	12.8		11.0	7.9
Other fuel		5.5	3.8	3.8		2.9		2.2		2.8	5.5		3.9	2.6
Gasoline		0.0	0.8	0.3		0.7		3.9		2.3	0.0		1.1	2.5
Shoes & Clothing		19.4	19.7	20.1		17.3		18.2		18.4	19.2		20.2	18.3
Public Transport		3.2	4.4	5.3		5.4		6.1		5.6	3.7		4.4	5.8
Medicine		5.7	7.3	5.7		5.1		4.8		5.2	5.7		8.2	5.0
Education		13.6	11.3	11.7		11.5		7.7		9.5	13.7		9.1	9.4
Utilities		6.5	6.2	4.9		4.2		4.3		4.6	6.4		5.5	4.5
Others		15.7	20.7	24.0		30.7		34.9		30.6	16.8		21.5	31.9
All		100.0	100.0	100.0		100.0		100.0		100.0	100.0		100.0	100.0
1988/89
Tobacco		2.7	2.7	2.8		2.7		2.4		2.5		2.6	2.6	2.5
Soap		12.4	10.1	10.1		9.7		8.7		9.3		12.2	10.0	9.7
Charcoal		8.6	9.0	9.6		7.9		5.7		7.0		9.1	8.3	6.7
Other fuel		5.2	3.3	2.9		2.9		2.0		2.5		5.0	3.1	2.4
Gasoline		0.0	0.1	0.0		0.6		2.8		1.7		0.0	0.1	2.0
Shoes & Clothing		18.2	21.5	22.2		19.3		18.0		19.1		18.6	21.9	18.8
Public Transport		4.1	4.9	4.8		5.9		5.6		5.4		4.2	5.0	5.5
Medicine		6.0	4.6	5.2		5.1		4.1		4.6		6.0	4.4	4.5
Education		18.3	16.2	11.8		12.8		7.3		10.0		18.6	15.2	9.
Utilities		6.1	5.5	7.5		6.4		4.6		5.5		5.9	5.9	5.4
Others		18.3	22.2	23.0		26.8		38.6		32.4		17.9	23.5	33.9
All		100.0	100.0	100.0		100.0		100.0		100.0		100.0	100.0	100.0
1991/92
Tobacco	1.8		1.1		1.5		0.9		1.0	1.1		2.3	1.2	1.0
Soap	6.9		7.2		7.3		7.6		8.5	7.9		7.1	6.8	8.0
Charcoal	7.6		7.6		7.1		6.6		3.7	5.3		7.2	7.7	5.?
Other fuel	3.1		2.4		2.5		2.1		1.5	1.9		3.7	2.2	1.8
Gasoline	0.0		0.2		0.3		0.3		4.6	2.5		0.0	0.1	2.8
Shoes & Clothing	17.6		16.8		18.8		18.2		16.6	17.3		19.6	17.0	17.2
Public Transport	4.9		7.8		6.6		6.6		7.0	6.8		5.0	6.0	7.0
Medicine	5.6		6.4		6.5		7.5		6.2	6.5		5.5	6.4	6.5
Education	17.2		13.8		12.0		11.7		6.9	9.8		16.8	15.0	9.?
Utilities	7.4		6.9		6.1		5.5		4.0	5.1		7.2	8.1	4.8
Others	28.0		29.9		31.3		33.0		40.0	35.8		25.6	29.4	36.?
All	100.0		100.0		100.0		100.0		100.0	100.0		100.0	100.0	100.0

Finally in terms of direct costs there is evidence that the mean parental expense of educating girls is significantly higher than that for boys, at both primary and secondary levels.

Figure O - Gender Differences in Drop out, Attendance and Costs of Schooling: 6-17 year olds

	Current Enrolled Percent	Ever Enrolled Percent	Dropout Percent	Mean Grade* Level Attained	Mean Parental Expense (Cedis)
6-11 Boys	67	75	11	1.7	3413
Girls	59	68	13	1.8	4233
12-17 Boys	66	84	22	6.2	5901
Girls	49	72	32	6.1	644?
Total	61	75	19	2.9	4814

Source: Lloyd and Gage-Brandon, 1992 citing 1987/88 GLSS quoted in BRIDGE, March 1994 p 37

Figure O: Presumably this is mean grade level of those remaining in school, after allowing for drop out.

A possible reason for the higher cost of educating girls might be that girls' uniform expenses, which comprise 26% of direct costs (Lloyd and Gage-Brandon, 1992) are higher (BRIDGE, 1994 ibid.) or perhaps that they are entrusted with food money for themselves and younger siblings?

Opportunity costs are by their nature more difficult to assess but there is evidence that the value of child labour for agricultural domestic and marketing tasks is drawing children, particularly girls, away from school (Asomaning and others 1994, Brock and Cammish 1991, etc. in Heneveld, W. 1995 p 17). Odaga, A. and Heneveld, W. (1995) suggest too in their review of 'Girls and Schools in Sub-Saharan Africa' that in Ghana there is a trend for rural young girls to be sent to urban areas to become domestic servants for kin and non-kin families (op. cit. 1995 p 18).

As we shall see when learning of young women's and girls' experiences of poverty and schooling an irony of the above situation is that it is often the acquisition of schooling that has enabled women to enter the employment sector thereby requiring them to procure other younger rural girls to assist them with child-minding and domestic labour.

This issue was raised at a national seminar on girls' education held in Accra in June , 1995. In discussing child labour delegates at the conference were told that:

"Unlike women in the formal sector, women in the informal labour market, find all forms of strategies for coping with their maternal and child care roles as well as their occupation. The most common mechanism employed is by using their children in the home and at the workplace". (Ministry of Education 1995 Ghana p 60)

We would suggest that evidence seems to indicate that mothers, whether in the formal or informal sector, are more likely to use the services of children drawn from the rural areas or children fostered to them within the extended family network.

It is clear that children, especially those from the poor and very poor families have to work either to help relatives to manage to work themselves or to bring up children or simply to work to sustain themselves and those they care for.

Of 150 street children interviewed in Tamale, 124 (82%) specifically mentioned that they were on the street to earn money for their living. Fourteen children were doing so to support guardians or parents, girls accounting for a majority of these (12) (Action Aid, 1995 p 39). Interestingly evidence seems to suggest too that birth order may well play a part in a child's opportunities in life. In large families the eldest child may be out working so that the youngest or all younger children can attend school: the youngest being viewed as an investment in the future welfare of the family, while older children are involved in current welfare (Ennew, 1993 in Boyden, J. 1996 p 21). Research from the Philippines, and Peru, (reported in Boyden, J. 1996) suggests that whereas in the former the highest number of child workers were the eldest sons or daughters, most of whom came from big families with inadequate and irregular incomes; in the latter the reverse applied with 33% of street children being third in sibling order, 21% fourth while only 16% the oldest and 15% the second oldest.

It is data of this kind - and none seems to exist in Ghana - that can provide the sort of cultural evidence required to assist those in a position to target development assistance more effectively.

The relationship between poverty and schooling is central to any debate about ways to improve the quality of basic education in a country such as Ghana. A recent comparative analysis of problems affecting girls' education conducted by the African NGO Forum for African Women's Education (FAWE) identified poverty as the major problem (of 34 listed by nine focal groups - teenage pregnancy; irresponsibility of fathers; negative customs, beliefs and taboos, and broken homes being the other problems given in descending order of importance). Fay Chung, Chief of UNICEF's Education Cluster at a 1995 Conference on the case for Girls' Education in Sub-Saharan Africa held in Cambridge suggested that:

"The major reason for girls dropping out of school in Africa is poverty ". (Chung, 1995 p 2)

As we said at the start of this section poverty is not a God-given state visited upon poor people in hot countries. It is a result of economic and political decisions taken nationally and internationally. The values, beliefs and priorities that guide those decisions are essential components of a scenario that integrates the macro and the micro worlds of the Economy and the Home.

How this scenario is experienced and articulated is what concerns us now.

5.2 Culture and the economy: Voices of experience

5.2.1 The culture of power: Experiencing poverty

In The Politics of Education, Culture, Power and Liberation the late Brazilian educator Paolo Freire argues that when talking about and deciding upon contemporary social and political issues we invoke two patterns of discourse: a language of critique in which agendas of choice are drawn up, the current situation is analysed, options for action are considered etc. and a language of possibility in which decisions are taken, actions are implemented, strategies are carried through.

It is possible in analysing teachers' and children's experiences of poverty to classify their experiences or views of their experiences into two similar categories: the first their analysis of what Thierry Verhelst calls the " culture of power": a critical understanding of current and past circumstances that bring about poverty and the second, the " power of culture" in which they speak the language of possibility - coping strategies for "managing", ways out of the poverty trap, and solutions tried and tested from experience.

It is possible to arrange the theories that emerged from the interviews, then, under these broad headings:

Figure P - Themes Emerging from analysis of field data:

Language of Critique "Culture of Power" 1. Poverty and schooling 2. Ill health and Pregnancy 3. Experiencing 'drop out' 4. 'Times past, times present' 5. Urban-rural experiences Language of Possibility "Power of Culture" 1. Coping strategies of girls and young teachers 2. Private schooling

5.2.1 The culture of power: Experiencing poverty

5.2.1.1 Poverty and schooling
5.2.1.2 Ill health and pregnancy
5.2.1.3 Experiences of 'drop-outs'
5.2.1.4 Times past, times present
5.2.1.5 Urban-rural life

"We Laribanga people will be willing to enter any agreement with the government or any other body which will assist us to increase the production on our farms so that we can assist our girls in school. Our major problem is poverty"

Elders of Laribanga
Focus Group Interview

"Actually in Esseukyr this place is too dry. They don't have much rainfall so they are very poor".

Elders of Esseukyr Village

5.2.1.1 Poverty and schooling

Laribanga, rural farming village in the North; Esseukyr, dry fishing community a few miles to the east of the southern town of Winneba. Both villages illustrate the pockets of entrenched poverty that seem to be a characteristic of this country. Though, as we have seen, statistics reflected in the Ghana Living Standards Survey show that more of these pockets are to be found in the North, it is still possible to drive a short distance from a southern urban area and encounter very poor communities.

For these people living on the breadline the major issue told to us over and over again is the payment of school fees.

The following interchange between an interviewer and GB, a newly-appointed teacher from Pomadze village, near Winneba illustrates the problem:

What does the grandfather [carer of drop out being discussed] have to pay?

I know the school fees are 1,250 cedis (1 pound = 2,000 cedis approx. Jan 1996). The printing fee is 800 cedis.

The uniform, do they have to buy?

Yes, they buy their own uniform and that costs about 6,000 cedis.

What else does the grandfather have to buy?

Her exercise books, her own furniture which cost around 5,000 cedis.

Do they take this away when they finish school?

Yes.

But isn't this [provision of furniture] the job of the Government?

When I was schooling there was nothing like that but now the children have to do all that.

AA, a mother of a dropout expresses well the struggle of many to find the fees to send their children to school:

There is economic hardship all over the place. I am, for instance, a farmer and yet if the rains do not come I get frustrated. Buying books and uniforms and paying fees becomes a problem. The headteachers sometimes assist us in the payment of fees.

How?

They spread the payment over one or two moths to enable us to make full payment if the rains don't come to help sustain our farming activities; then we can't make sufficient money to pay our daughter's fees. The solution lies in letting the girl stop schooling. That is what happened in the case of my own daughter, F. I have struggled to see her complete P6, [class six primary] and she should have been in JSS this year but she is at home. I have to buy uniform and pay fees. She didn't partake in the final p6 exam to enter JSS so she is at home...

Oh and the men should also be blamed. There should be shared responsibilities - both partners should supplement the efforts of one another.

Talking with parents and girls in and out of school, it is clear that it is not simply the payment of the school fees (soon to be abolished under Governments "FCUBE" Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education initiative) that creates the problem for high risk families but the associated cost of supplementary and often illegal fees levied by parent-teacher associations, uniforms and money to give the child for food whilst at school.

Nineteen dropout girls were interviewed for this study. Almost all gave fee-paying and/or money for food as a major reasons for withdrawing from school. Below is a selection of statements taken from five girls currently out of school.

AD: "My parents never gave me money to go to school. My friends buy some food while I look on. This makes me feel very sad".

AI: "As long as I have enough to eat I will go [to school] and will not ask [parents] for money".

CA: "I had no money to pay for the school fees no school uniform and also no money anytime I was asked to pay for anything at school".

AA: "I needed just my exam fee which was an amount of 800 cedis [40 pence]".

MD: "I was sent home for fees on Friday and my mother said she didn't have it and that I should wait till Monday. On Monday she told me she didn't have it either so I should stay home".

The fact that a number of children are dropping out of school for want of the equivalent forty or fifty pence says a great deal about the precariousness of families who simply have no "extra" money to spend on fees or food.

With the expansion of schooling throughout the developing world a situation has arisen where schooling is no longer just for the elite. Richer children now rub shoulders with their poorer cousins. During focus group discussions with girls in school it became apparent how important it was, particularly for girls, to be seen to be not poor. J, a teacher from Tamale remembering her primary school days fifteen years ago:

J: "I was very good in class when I was in the primary school. I was office girl in primary five and the Girls Prefect in primary six. I remember wearing a torn dress when I was in P6. I felt very uncomfortable particularly considering my position as a girls' prefect. When I told my father about it, he kept saying that I was going to leave primary school so I wore a pull-over over it for the rest of my primary school days".

MM, a headteacher remembers his daughter wanting to "be like her friends from wealthier families"; a number of girls from a Winneba schooling pointing out that fees are often paid by parents to the children but are then spent by them on repairing uniforms and buying food.

Structural Adjustment Programmes in sub-Saharan Africa have introduced into the discourse of aid a vocabulary including terms such as 'cost-sharing', 'community financing', and 'cost recovery'. Two parents, one a headteacher, commented on the implication of this for poor parents and the change they have witnessed since they attended school.

"It is not just the school fees per se but the involvement of the parents in other aspects of the school, e.g. 500 cedis is the fee but schools have become a community affair and parents are to build and furnish the school. This is expensive. This is a real heavy burden for them". (Focus group, of teachers, Winneba)

ZA, a headteacher from Tamale, was then asked about his own schooling:

Was the burden less when you were a child?

Yes, we didn't pay for things. That's why some of the parents feel it is better for the children to go and sell in the market.

It shows 1995 is different from the past. But everyone says Ghana is rich now because your roads are improving.

Yes, but it could have been better to have better schools.

SA, a parent from Tamale added that the poor construction of school buildings meant that parents never knew when they would be expected to raise money for its upkeep.

Traditionally it has been the responsibility of fathers to pay the fees of their children. Evidence from the research indicates that many are abrogating this responsibility, leaving mothers to raise the funds.

Drop out Sister A from Esseukyr:

SA: "When you ask them [other friends] they tell you that their fathers are in other villages and do not pay their school fees regularly so it is difficult to continue schooling".

This raises the question of willingness rather than ability to support a child through schooling. JA, a drop out from Tamale, recalled her limited time spent at school a few years back:

JA: "I remember the financial help we lacked and the mistrust that my father had for me. He would never give us the school fees and we never had enough food while there. He gave us 20 cedis which was not enough".

The belief that girls will marry out of the family and that it is therefore best a girl 'stops and farms' was said to us a number of times.

The counter side, parents sacrificing a great deal to support their offspring through school and college was a recurring theme in the life histories of women teachers:

EO: "I am from Tamale and from a large family yet, "they preferred to use their money to educate us all".

PK, another Tamale teacher remembered:

PK: "My mother had to sell her sewing machine to get me some money to enable me to come to training college".

It would appear that the situation is now different with more of the costs being passed onto the parents, circumstances requiring greater sacrifices from the adults and, often as not, the child or young student realising that they themselves will need to earn some if not all the costs themselves.

A consequence of a liberalisation of the economy and an encouragement of the free market has been a realisation by many parents that being out of school is more profitable for their child than being in.

What might be called a "get rich quick" attitude is now firmly established in many communities: the girls themselves knowing perfectly well the short term advantages of trading over schooling:

"School does not bring money but trading brings money" (Winneba P6 Focus Group)

"Some of them [peers] want to get rich quick, they want to acquire (property) as early as possible and therefore to stop school to go into trade, or even to travel elsewhere to find money". (Laribanga JSS Focus Group)

The poor quality of schooling and increasing unemployment of school leavers only fuels the belief that at a time when schools are calling for more money from parents and community it is a better bet to seek a fortune elsewhere. The traditional respect accorded wealth, particularly in the Central Ashanti and Northern regions also contributes to this. IB, a Tamale headteacher:

"Because our people tend to respect wealthy people, children are encouraged rather to get into 'money seeking' adventures instead of school, especially these days when some people leave school without employment. This sometimes discourages them from continuing their education".

Two consequences of poverty: ill health and early pregnancy also play a major role in keeping girls out of school.

5.2.1.2 Ill health and pregnancy

A recent study carried out in the impoverished Afram Plain's area of Ghana, "Social economic and cultural factors influencing enrolment in school by females in Ghana and the health of children in and out of school" by the NGO Partnership for Child Development (1995) suggests that of the sample of the 4,766 children surveyed in the research area:

"about half showed evidence of stunted growth... children were generally small for their age...children were generally thin".

Interestingly there was no noticeable improvement in the health of children in school as opposed to those working in fishing and farming, which may suggest that schools have little effect on health or that those out of school, for some reason, do not participate in traditional economic activities such as farming and fishing.

When asked about health, two focus groups of P6 girls, both from Winneba schools, described two instances which may well be typical:

"She had a pain in her leg and the headteacher loaned her 3,000 cedis to use to treat herself. The parents did not refund it so she stopped". (Focus Group, P6 girls, Winneba)

When asked about what happened to her:

"She has been given out to someone as a maid and is staying with that person". (Gyahadze Focus Group, P6 girls, Winneba)

The other group of pupils remember one girl who:

"Was not academically good and she also had a visual problem, that is she was using glasses. Unfortunately, for her she broke the glasses and according to her the parents weren't ready to buy her a new pair. Without it she can't see so definitely she had to drop out of school". (Focus Group, P6 girls, Winneba)

We have raised the issue of pregnancy in the previous section. The experiences of those unfortunate enough to become pregnant whilst at school is universally similar: it is poverty that leads to the circumstances in which girls become pregnant and not some moral laxity on their part.

CS, a teacher from Esseukyr recalling her school days:

CS: "They did not have anyone in the house who would be helping them: buying them food, exercise books, etc. So they were forced to take some friends, boyfriends - and one too was our teacher. So before we got to class six these three girls were pregnant and so they had to stop".

The circumstances of one drop out, AA from Pomadze, illustrates the link between poverty and pregnancy. Aged about fourteen and living with her elderly grandparents (her parents having split up) she was doing reasonably well in class P6 at the local primary school.

At the Easter of her final P6 year, she was asked to pay 800 cedis for "examination fee", charged by the school to cover the end-of-primary examinations which take children into the remaining three years of junior secondary education. Unable to raise the fee she remained at home during the summer term and discovered herself pregnant. At the time of being interviewed she was about twelve week pregnant, had no medical attention, and was fearful and upset of what lay ahead. The father of the child, an apprentice at the local car body shop had disappeared. In July 1996 we learnt she had safely delivered a little boy.

BS, teaching in Tamale, concurred with AA's experience:

"Most dropout before getting pregnant".

The reason for dropping out being the necessity for girls, economically 'at risk' to have to turn to men for support to allow them to continue in school.

It is also worth noting that it is not until JSS year 1, that children learn any sex education, which considering the late enrolment of many is often too late.

5.2.1.3 Experiences of 'drop-outs'

A number of girls in school talked about the economic circumstances of children who had dropped out:

Some are married with children. Others frying gari or trading, others even go to Abidjan.

So what is she doing now?

In fact I don't know. Yes, I remember, she sells kenkey.

Oh, so she gets money from that. How old is she?

She is twelve years old. (Focus Group P6 girls, Laribanga)

Trading in roadside foodstuffs - kenkey, oranges, ice-water - becoming a maid to a relative in an urban area, doing small jobs such as weeding or repairing of fishing nets, perhaps travelling to a neighbouring city such as Abidjan or Lome seem to be the lot of most girls out of school. The situation of one girl, SM, described by her teacher, RA, shows how a combination of poverty, family problems and a general sense of the futility of schooling characterises the experiences of many:

OK, you mentioned one SM who has dropped out of school. And she dropped out at age nine. In which class was she?

Class 3.

Do you know where she is now?

She is living in Sankor.

The village where the school is situated?

Yes.

What is she doing?

She is not doing anything. The children see her at the beach and they come and tell me. I send some of them to call her to come to school and she doesn't come.

Why did she drop?

When she wasn't coming to school, I sent someone to go and call her and she told me she doesn't have money to pay her school fees so I sent another girl to go and tell her that I will pay the fees for her so she should just come to school but she wouldn't come.

Do you think she is just not interested in school?

I think it was to do with the problems she was having at home..."

The most 'at risk' children seem to be those like SM who come from homes where one or both parents are deceased, ill, or working elsewhere, leaving the child to be cared for by an aunt of grandparent. A number of children seem to be caring for themselves.

A, a nine year old drop-out interviewed in Winneba:

A: "Yes I was very good at school".

Why did you stop?

My father died and we went back home to Prampram (a village 50 kilometres east of Accra). My mother had no money to see me through school so I stopped.

The fact that the payment of school fees seems to have become the mother's responsibility means that if paternal death or divorce should occur a child is often at risk. RB, an elder from Winneba also points out that:

RV: "When a marriage ends and there are kids the woman always try to get the children on her side. But already she is not having the funds to care for them and she continues with the intention the law may help her".

A small girl from a class six group in Gyahadze somewhat mournfully told us:

"I look after myself as I am alone now. My father is on his farm but I do odd jobs, hiring my services to whoever needs it. As I am alone now I must care for myself".

Such a situation has implications for strategies to improve the position of vulnerable children. It may be that more assistance should be given to children in school who are managing in some way to avoid impoverishment and gain an education. There also appears to be evidence that in supporting mothers, particularly in the direct and indirect costs of schooling, a greater impact will be achieved.

5.2.1.4 Times past, times present

Talking with women teachers and with girls in school, and a few out of school, there is a strongly held view that economically times are much harder now. This is curious given the fact that when many of the women were going through school, Ghana was experiencing its nadir in terms of economic performance (i.e. 1970's and 1980's). Generally, it would appear that though on a macro-scale Ghana experienced an economic depression at this time it is remembered as a period in which social services were maintained: the quality of schooling was high, teachers were expected and performed conscientiously, and the financial burden felt by parents and community was lighter than that experienced today.

AA, a teacher from Tamale sums it up well:

AA: "Education has become expensive. Children in the past went to school without too much demand from parents. The parents were in charge of their school uniform and occasional contributions, but today parents pay school fees and other kinds of fees, buy furniture, books, pens, chalk and lots of things. If these extra costs are excluded we should be able to care for our children in school".

CA, a Tamale dropout, takes the view that the current hardships were unforeseen:

CA: "Many of us didn't foresee that the trend of things in the country would change and thought life would remain as it was - easy and simple ".

Of course it is possible that a major problem of the economy in the late 1970's and early 1980's was that it was over-reaching itself in trying to provide free education for its citizens. It also has to be remembered that a higher proportion of children are now enrolled in schools.

Several of the teachers considered times much harder now and that economic difficulties make the work less enjoyable:

RA: "Life wasn't so hard as these days. You see these days because of financial problems you go to school and you will be thinking of your children at home and perhaps you have children who have no father or you have a husband who is not working or even if he is working the money is not sufficient and so with all these problems at the back of your mind I don't think you will have time to enjoy the teaching as it was in the old time".

The rate of inflation now, the cost of basic health services (once free), the array of payments required by schools and Parent Teacher Associations, and the general sense that everything seems to cost more are the things that appear to make life hard for the Ghanaian teacher and parent in the late 1990's.

There is also a sense, expressed by parents particularly, that children are more sophisticated now and aware of the difference money can make. MM, a headteacher from Laribanga took the view that:

MM: "Children are very exposed to money and are spendthrifts so they don't appreciate any amount given to them to go to school because others have more and so girls end up following boys who eventually impregnate them. Children think they should have all that their friends have, regardless of the financial position of their parents. We were taught to be content with whatever we were given. Even food. These days children even refuse food prepared by their parents and go to buy something else".

5.2.1.5 Urban-rural life

The lure of money is associated for some, probably correctly, with the growing divide between life in the rural areas and town life.

A number of teachers and parents thought that schooling was actually more expensive in the urban areas - PTA's tended to levy higher fees for example - because parents tended to have more disposable income; towns also being places where children are exposed to the "fancy life" and tempted into crime and various money-making activities.

What we seem to have in Ghana is a situation in which economically the gap between the rich and poor is widening, mirrored to some extent in the North-South, rural-urban divides and at a time when the costs of sending a child to school are rising.

The break up of the traditional family, pregnancy amongst schoolgirls, the difficulties facing single parents and children caring for themselves are all part of the fabric of a nation experiencing poverty. Though the language of critique is at times bleak, it is in the experiences of those interviewed that we also encounter the language of possibility -coping strategies and mechanisms for survival that provide us with avenues to explore in trying to remedy the situation.

5.3 The Power of culture: Experiencing possibilities

In spite of the cost of schooling and the economic hardship suffered by so many, education is still viewed as a worthwhile investment. Whereas in the past with education viewed as largely 'free' parents were willing to send as many of their children as they could to school, today there is a much more discriminating attitude to financing children through the initial nine years of Basic Education.

'Failure' at school e.g. doing badly in an examination (and it has to be remembered that the 1995 criterion referenced achievement test which sampled 5.4% of the total national enrolment only 1.8% reached the criterion level of 55% in mathematics and only 3.6% in the English language) or not gaining employment at the end of the Basic Cycle, is perceived as a "waste of resources" by many parents. Dropping out through pregnancy is an added reason given for this view:

AA: "It is important that girls should complete their schooling but after a hard struggle some eventually end up becoming pregnant so whatever expenses you made to see her through goes wasted especially when one considers the cost of fees, uniform, books".

This parent, AA, takes the realistic view that:

AA: "If after studying the effects would be in vain and end in pregnancy, then the best way out is for the girl to stop schooling and engage in weeding, trading or to learn a trade rather than wasting money".

An elder from Winneba, EA takes the view that:

EA: "it would be a better result if used to educate a boy".

5.3.1 Coping strategies of girls and young women females

5.3.1 Coping strategies of girls and young women females
5.3.2 Private schooling

By pushing more of the real costs of schooling upon families and communities a situation is emerging, perhaps a healthy one, in which parents are questioning the "commodity" being bought. However, when such discrimination is adversely affecting the education of girls over boys, such a strategy needs to be countered.

A number of women teachers also took the view that teaching is no longer seen as a financially rewarding career and as such is only worth continuing with until something better comes up or an opportunity arises to move out of the classroom and follow a course of further study.

VC who teaches at Esseukyr suggested to a young secondary school girl that she consider teaching as a career. She replied:

Ah, but what have you got since you started teaching? I will never teach".

A reduction in the school fees, as proposed by the Government of Ghana, was viewed by many as a way forward; communities being willing to shoulder a reasonable economic burden in supporting their children through school. A number of other sensible suggestions were made for cost-sharing or making the payment of fees by parents easier:

ZA: "We attempted to solve the problems by asking parents to pay fees by instalments". (Headteacher, Tamale)

EA: "I therefore, suggest, that the government should institute a scheme of giving loans to farmers to help them make some income so they can look after their children, who in turn will be good citizens of the country". (EA, Parent, Winneba)

VA: "They, the Ghana Education Service, should (especially in the villages) where the parents have made up their minds that they aren't going to educate their daughters, provide items such as books and uniforms at moderate prices''. (VA, Lamptey Teacher, Gyahadze)

Currently it is Parent-Teacher Associations that are used as the mechanism for raising monies to support various school expenses such as furniture, cement blocks for new classrooms, sports equipment, etc. The fact that these levies are often exorbitantly high (and in breach of guidelines laid down by district education offices), and compulsory for all parents of children enrolled in the school means that with the forthcoming proposed fee-free education, PTA's may well end up needing to raise more revenue should Government inadequately fund education at the school level.*

* Each pupil according to the GLSS pay 100 cedis as 'culture' fees, 200 cedis as 'textbook user fees' compared to the government approved fees of 50 cedis respectively. Mean household expenditure on education is given as 748,000 cedis, 2% of total spending by household per annum. BESIP policy document. Ministry of Education, Ghana, April 1996.

GB, a young teacher from Pomadze village recounted in her life history interview how she had supported herself through every level of schooling and through teacher training college by trading.

It was her advice that:

GB: "the girls use, say three hours to trade to support their parents because of the financial position here".

Girls supporting parents and relatives and girls working to fund themselves through school was commonly given by teachers and the girls themselves as the most realistic way to survive.

MA, a dropout from Pomadze, was the sole breadwinner in her grandparents' home. Earning from 100 to 300 cedis a day by selling iced water and oranges along the roadside she:

"gives part of the money to my grandmother and uses the rest for feeding...I am the breadwinner".

More disturbing were the situations in which relatives, knowing older girl pupils are able to "get something from men" ask, for example:

DA: "Esi, give me 20 cedis so that when I get money I will refund to you". (DA, Headteacher, Winneba)

Poverty once again is a major reason for parents having to rely on child labour. HB, a headteacher, in the poor village of Esseukyr:

HB: "We have crabs people trap for sale so sometimes you see a child in school going to the bush to trap crabs for sale. Why? Because the parents are poor and are unable to support him very well. Sometimes you may not see the child in school because they say to the children, if you don't go to the beach, there will be nothing for the evening so manage and go...you see the problem is still economic".

The resourcefulness of girls and young women to fund themselves through school and college was a feature of the focus group discussions with girls in school and women teachers newly graduated from teacher training institutions.

CT, a young teacher, remembers living with her aunt and husband at Saltpond when a child:

CT: "He didn't want to pay my school fees so I had to stay late in the night preparing toffees and groundnut cake until I could get some money to pay my school fees for one year..."

MA, a particularly successful teacher in Winneba found herself at a young age having to find ways to pay for school fees:

MA: "It was a big problem for my mother so we were forced as children to help with the selling especially at weekends. One of us would be selling bread and another cloth, because we were twins. We were going outside the village to sell. It was how we earned our living. At some point in time we used sugar to make toffees to sell so that we would get money to pay part of our school fees. Our uncle who convinced my mother to send us to school promised to buy us the school uniforms. Because we were twins we had to struggle hard to pay fees because we were too many. My mother couldn't bear it alone so the responsibility of caring for the other children was our".

A number of girls in discussion in school argued that:

"girls should respect their mothers and help them sell their goods so that they can pay the fees". (ACM focus group p 6 girls)

At one point when sitting with the local paramount chief of Pomadze-Asebu traditional area, we raised the question of whether the community generally shouldn't, say establish a scholarship fund for needy pupils:

Chief: "There are people in the community who have no children; they have passed the child-bearing age, so when you tell them to contribute something towards somebody else's child's education, they will not see the urge or importance for doing it. After all why should I contribute money towards somebody else's child's education?"

It has to be recognised though that many successful women teachers only became so because of their willingness to combine schooling with petty trading; and likewise that, if currently, many girls did not trade the dropout rate from primary and junior secondary schools would be higher. Making school time-tables more flexible to allow for some work after school hours, during fishing catches and at harvest time, for example, might well be a way to relieve some of the financial burdens currently being faced by the school children and their parents. The teachers life histories reveal too the resilience and resourcefulness of many Ghanaian women to overcome poverty.

AP, a much respected senior headteacher of AME Zion school in Winneba has first hand experience of the struggle to manage:

"When my father died and my mother came I was living with my mother but then because she wasn't working and my grandmother too was sick, I had to struggle. There were times when I closed from school and there was nothing to eat. My mother tried preparing doughnuts; so when she wasn't at home I took a little and made porridge, sometimes even without sugar, and after eating I rushed to school... "

The ability of teachers to manage financially by combining teaching with additional work is well illustrated by a Pomadze teacher, GB:

"We close at about twelve thirty in the morning. I then start my trading at about 3.30 pm to 4 pm, then close at about 6 pm and come home.

Were you tired thinking about the morning teaching and then trading in the afternoon?

Yes, but because of the situation I was in, I had to do it. Even then I was providing for my little sisters since my auntie wasn't ready to do so.

Did you find time to prepare your lessons?

Yes, I was doing that in the evenings, but it was a weekly affair, so I was doing that on Sundays".

This is from a teacher who began her career as a pupil-teacher augmenting her salary by selling kitchenware and clothing to fellow teachers and who continued to do so when she managed to gain entry into a teachers' college.

The average monthly take home pay of a primary school teacher is 75,000 cedis or £40 at the current exchange rate. Once transportation from home to school has been paid (approximately £8 per month) and daytime lunch expenses are deducted, a young teacher has little left with which to begin a trading enterprise. It is interesting to compare salaries with those paid to teachers thirty five years ago. David Brokensha's pioneering anthropological study of "Social Change at Larteh, Ghana" (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1966) mentions that:

"the fifty four teachers in Larteh receive a total of about £15,000 per annum in salaries, an average of £280 for each".

At the 1996 exchange rate this would be about 700,000 cedis per annum which is not a lot short of what today's teachers receive. Ghanaian society, like others in the developing world, is one which traditionally holds its teachers in high regard. But as RA of Tamale remarks, things have changed:

RA: "Teachers are honest and respected. The bad aspect is poverty. We are not regarded very much in society because of our poverty".

A particular difficulty faces headteachers who often find themselves caught in the middle between parents and children unable to pay the fees and the educational authorities determined to collect their revenue.

Two headteachers, MM of Laribanga and ID of Pomadze both told us that if enrolled children are permitted to remain in school without payment of fees the money is deducted at source from the headteacher's salary. The latter teacher, ID had taken the very Ghanaian step of adopting the child who was unable to pay. As a colleague, CM told us:

CM: "He says he has taken the child to be his own so he doesn't feel it much. And he is a nice boy and clever too ".

Another of the headteachers, HB from Esseukyr pointed out that as a headteacher it was his duty to encourage parents to send their children to school, yet:

HB: "The problem is that when you show the way you are going to provide the money for the parent. You say the child should go to school but will you buy the school uniform?"

5.3.2 Private schooling

Paradoxically, a coping strategy for an increasing number of parents is to do what more than 40% of Accra parents are doing and that is to pay more for their child's education by enrolling them in a private school. The following extract of a conversation between one of us and ID, the headteacher of Pomadze indicates why many parents regard private schools a better investment:

So they have three terms making a total fee charged of 45,000 cedis a year (approximately £20). Why are people paying it? If I gave you 45,000 cedis would you send your child there?

Yes.

You would, why would you want your child to go there?

Everybody wants the best education for his or her ward.

I want to ask you, why is it better?

Because the institution is a private one and the proprietor pays them well. He expects the teachers to work hard and if you don't you are sacked.

And in your school if the teachers don't work hard, do you expect them to go home?

Well, here, I can't ask him to go home only I have to point it out to him or her to do well.

Is there anything about the other school that is worth the 45,000 cedis apart from the teachers working hard?

Yes, during last year's B.E.C.E. examination, it was the Winneba International School that topped the whole Gomoa district.

The profitability of owning a private school was noted by more than one teacher interviewed. AP, a Winneba headteacher nearing retirement and CT, a colleague from the same school both have plans to open their own schools. For AP it would be:

"a private school right from crèche, nursery and primary level".

With pensions related to current low salary levels and with an increasing number of parents willing to take this route of securing for their children a quality education it is easy to see why teachers working in the public sector are considering opting out to the private.

Couple this with a World Bank "conditionality" that private education should be encouraged in Ghana it appears a sensible move to either own, work in, or send a child to a private school.

As long as schooling is primarily viewed in economic terms, be it the costs of supporting a child or the economic return expected when the child graduates, parents and children will continue to look for ways to finance themselves through the education system. Paradoxically as Ghana, nationally, experiences a revival in its economic fortunes the financial difficulties of many parents and teachers are greater than they were in the past.

Culture though is not just a description of the way things are but the behaviour and strategies of individuals and communities to overcome their most serious difficulties. As we have seen, a number of people have suggested ways in which Government can relieve the burden put upon parents and the children themselves.

So far we have looked at the home life of the child and the poverty framework that shapes participation in school. Perhaps the most important set of experiences, for the educationist anyway, is what happens at school. It is to the culture of the school that we now turn.

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