Estimating the extent of educational resource deprivation among basic schools and its effect on quality education in Ghana

Policymakers continue to contend with the challenge of measuring and classifying schools concerning educational resources, which makes it difficult for policy development and implementation towards efficient allocation of the scarce resources available to education managers. This study, therefore, sought to estimate the extent of educational resource deprivation among Basic Schools in Ghana and find out its effect on the delivery of quality education. The study used data from the Annual School Census (ASC Data) (2015/16–2018/19) and Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) pass rates (2015/16–2018/19) The findings revealed that the extent of educational resource deprivation has improved from 45.1 % in 2015/16–35.4 % in 2018/19 with higher regional disparities. The incidence of deprivation has also improved from a highest 83.6 % to a lowest 77.9 % while the intensity of the deprivation in Ghanaian basic schools changed from 49.6 % to 46.7 % with the northern sector of the country, especially the Brong Ahafo Region recording highest levels of deprivation. Again, it was found that quality basic education as evident in performance in BECE is determined by the availability of library facilities and ICT infrastructure, the nature of school building, supervision, teacher-pupil ratio, and availability of professional teachers. The study recommends the adoption of the Multidimensional Education Resource Deprivation Index (MERDI) as a guiding index in Ghana's educational resource distribution. Also, the Ghana Education Service should prioritise the deployment of quality teachers and the distribution of textbooks and other reading materials.