Please, Please, Pay My Fees

I happen to be a proud product of the United States Public School System.  With the exception of a few years at a Montessori pre-school, my parents never had to pay for my primary education.  And all things considered, I think I turned out pretty well.

Here in Ghana, it’s rare to hear someone be proud of the public school system.  “Government schools,” as they are called, are universally considered as inferior to the nations numerous private schools. Why are government schools so much worse?  One thing to consider is class size – at many government schools, class sizes often reach 60 or 70 students, especially in rural areas.  However, the main reason usually cited for low quality of education is the teachers.  This is somewhat ironic, because the teachers at government schools are required to go a Teacher Training College, whereas private schools have the ability to hire whomever they wish. In theory, teachers at government schools are more prepared and qualified to teach.  But if you ask anyone in Ghana, they say those teachers are bad, because of a lack of oversight.  Private schools, which are often for-profit, monitor their teachers closely. But government schools lack both the infrastructure and the incentives to monitor their teachers, resulting in decreased effort.

This explains why many of the USAID programs, which work solely with government schools in Ghana, focus on school oversight and management.   It also explains why most parents will, if at all possible, send their kids to private schools, even if they struggle to pay for them.

At Manye in particular, the payment of school fees is one of the school’s major problems.  Current rates are as follows:  40 GHC/term for Nursery/KG; 50 GHC/term for Primary; 60 GHC/term for JHS.  Last term, inflows from school fees were only 65% of where they should have been.  Which means that this term, the school opened with almost 4,000 GHC worth of arrears owed to the school.

Manye is a non-profit school, because the proprietor is trying to provide education to the poorer families in the community.  This is great, because some of the families around here really can’t afford the 50 GHC/term for each kid. Unfortunately, there are many families who can afford the fees, but just don’t pay them because they can sort of get away with it.

It’s a very interesting situation, which manifests itself with management and teachers perpetually trying to convince students to bring money to the school.  I want to close this entry with a particularly poignant example. After practicing their alphabet and the two letter words that they already know, the KG class practiced the following song, complete with actions:

Please, please, pay my fees

Please, please pay my fees

I want to be a doctor

I want to be a pilot

Please, please, pay my fees

Please, please, pay my fees

I want to go to America

America, America

I want to go to America

Please, please, pay my fees