1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1. Launch
On 28th December 2001, the Bonaboto Education Assistance Fund (BEAF) was launched at the Black Star Hotel, Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region. These Guidelines are hereby issued to guide the implementation of that Fund (the BEAF).

1.2 Background
Education is the bedrock for all development. Education empowers the individuals to take control of their environment, develop skills and knowledge required for development in any field. It has always been regarded as a fundamental tool for poverty eradication since it provides the technical skills and knowledge to set the people free from ignorance. In deed, a well-educated society is confronted with very minimal risk indicators of poverty such as diseases (e.g. HIV/AIDS), high mortality and birth rates, outmoded cultural practices etc.

1.3. Education In Northern Ghana
The three northern regions constituting 20% of the population of the country are estimated to account for 60% of Poverty in Ghana. The state of education in these regions is, correlatively, very poor. The reasons why the north in general has taken the back seat in education can be traced to deliberate colonial policies to deny the area access to education in order to maintain it as a permanent labour reserve for the mines and cocoa farms in the south. However, efforts by the government of the first republic to address the sixty year education gab created by this deliberate colonial policy between the north and our counterparts in the south was not sustained by subsequent governments.

The problems of education in the North range from lack of access to schools, lack of teachers and teaching aids, poor teaching and educational infrastructure and particularly very low enrollment and very high school drop out rate for the girl child. Physical access to schools is unevenly skewed against the north. Geographically, the Northern, Upper West and East regions have the lowest concentration of schools in the country. They account for less than 4% of the student population at the university level. For instance, Ghana’s top 45 secondary schools account for 96.3% of total admissions to the University of Ghana. Only two schools from the three northern regions (Tamale and Navrongo Secondary Schools) are among these top 45 schools and account for a mere 3.7% of admissions to the university.

The alarmingly poor state of education in the area is highlighted in the yearly Criterion Referenced Test conducted by the Ministry of Education. The region registered a poor mean score of 33.9% in English and a poorer 29.4% in Mathematics. Only a meagre 4.8% and 3.6% passed in the two subjects respectively in 1995. The general conclusion of the test was that the vast majority of the children in the region is not learning any skills and is, therefore, not benefiting from the educational reforms (MoE 1995 in WB staff appraisal report). The trend has not changed in subsequent tests. The region turned out to be the worst when compared with the whole country. Education-related bills were identified as partly the cause for the low enrolment in the region.

1.5. State of Education in the Bonaboto Area
Poor Quality of Education
If these statistics are worrying in the regional context, they are even more worrying in the case of the BONABOTO area, which is defined by the communities covered by the Bolgatanga and Bongo District Assemblies. With a total population of 328,608 people and population density of 203 persons per sq. km and a total land area of 1610 km, the BONABOTO area is the most densely populated area in the country and is described as the “poorest of the poorest”. This poverty cannot be de-linked from the poor state of education in the area. Education facilities are in a sorry state of disrepair and woefully inadequate for the fast growing child population.

The quality of education is negatively impacted by, lack of access to schools, poor attendance and enrollment rates, poor quality of teachers, lack of or inadequate supply of teachers, teaching and learning materials, lack of pre-schools for children under five, among others. In Ghana, the acceptable minimum pupil-teacher ratio is 40: 1, it is 90: 1 in the Bonaboto area. For every 10 children of school going age only 3 have access to primary education. Access to schools presents a real problem. These include lack of or inadequate structures, lack of sufficient learning space for children and the poor nature of available structures. There is also pronounced gender gaps in enrollment rates in the area with a 23 percentage point male to female difference in enrollment rates at the primary school age group (5-11years) and 34 percentage point gap at the JSS level (12-14 years).

The use of a child’s native language at early childhood development centers and at the basic school level in general is considered an important tool in providing sound educational foundation for a child. Our students in the teacher training colleges have always bemoaned the situation where teacher trainees from the area are forced to take languages that have no immediate use in the area. The only reason the Farefare language is not included in subjects taken at the teacher training level is that it lacks a well-developed language text and primers for use in these schools.

Fortunately the language has now been technically accepted for inclusion in the curriculum at the teacher training level subject to availability of developed literacy on it. Our brothers lecturing at the Gurene Language Department of the University College of Education, Winneba, are taking up the project of text development seriously with Professor Krupp Dakubu of the University of Ghana. The project’s progress is, however, impeded by lack of financial resources.

Access to Tertiary Education
At the tertiary level, the situation is equally disturbing. No secondary school in the BONABOTO area is among the 45 schools who contribute to nearly 97% of the student population in universities. The few students who qualify for some of these prestigious schools in most instances do not have the resources to pay the high fees demanded by these schools. Those who qualify either fail to honour the offers of admission due to financial problems or accept these offers but live under trying conditions, as many of them invariably have no residential status in view of their weaker grades, which are a reflection of the poor pre-tertiary school environment in the area. Most institutions award residence status in order of merit (academic excellence). What is gratifying is that many of those who get access to these institutions exhibit outstanding performance and are usually among the top class students at the end of the course.

With the growing move for “cost recovery” or “cost sharing” in the provision of social services (like education and health), education in the Bonaboto area is in danger of declining even further. The introduction of the “Academic Facilities User Fees” in tertiary institutions has further compounded the predicament of students from the area and is worsening the already poor access to these institutions.

2.6 Reporting on Progress of the Fund
The Technical Management Team shall report bi-annually on the management of the Fund to Bonaboto. The report shall include a half yearly/annual statement of accounts. Statements would also be posted at the Bonaboto website for the information of all stakeholders.