ABSTRACT

One of the main reasons why some children in Ghana do not attend school is that their parents simply cannot afford to pay the levies charged by schools. The Government of Ghana in 2005 introduced the capitation grant as a policy to alleviate the burden on parents. This survey analyzed the capitation grant scheme and its influence on basic school enrolment in the Amansie West District of Ashanti Region. Questionnaires and participant observation were among the methods employed for data collection from a sample of eighty (80) respondents. The respondents included teachers, head teachers, parents school management committee chairman and students. These respondents were randomly selected from basic schools in the Amansie West District of the Ashanti Region. Relevant data obtained were analysed using quantitative method. The survey seeks to find out how capitation grant has affected school enrolment .The survey revealed that most pupils fail to attend school because their parents cannot afford to pay their fees. The capitation grant has gone a long way to affect the enrolment to 50% increment in the first year of its introduction and has caused decline in truancy among pupils, hence the introduction of the capitation grant to curb this situation in our country. If the capitation grant is to have an impact on quality of education in Ghana, it is recommended that infrastructure such as classrooms, library and other teaching learning materials should be adequately provided to cater for the increasing number of pupils.