Paying for school: Ghana's education budget squeeze

What is happening to the Ghana education budget?

The Ghana education budget has taken a smaller share of the economy and of government spending since 2014, while the number of children in school has grown. That is the short answer, and every number behind it is on this page with its source.

Two things make this story easy to get wrong, so we say them first. The spending series we use has a break in it, which is why our charts start in 2014. And the per-pupil figure further down is our own calculation from official series, not a published statistic, so we show every step and say what it cannot tell you.

The same page also looks at Free SHS, the policy rolled out in public senior high schools in September 2017. Its head counts are described in several ways in official papers, and we set them side by side without taking a view.

How much does Ghana spend on education as a share of GDP?

On the World Bank's series, which draws on UNESCO Institute for Statistics data, Ghana spent 4.40% of GDP on education in 2014. By 2022, the latest year the series has, that was 2.91%. The line below moves in small steps, with a clear step down in 2017 and another in 2019.

The fall is 1.49 percentage points, or about a third of the 2014 share. As the per-pupil section below shows, much of that fall comes from the economy growing, and less from spending shrinking. After 4.43% in 2015 and 4.39% in 2016 it dropped to 3.53% in 2017, recovered to 3.89% in 2018, and sat between 3.15% and 3.41% from 2019 to 2021.

A share of GDP is a ratio, and a ratio can fall for two reasons. The money can shrink, or the economy it is measured against can grow faster or be revised upward. GDP figures are revised from time to time. This chart cannot tell you which is behind the drop, and it does not give the amount in cedis. It tells you only that education took a smaller slice.

The second chart uses another measure, education as a share of everything the government spends. It was 20.99% in 2014, 23.81% in 2015 and 13.18% in 2022, a fall of 7.81 percentage points, or about 37%. Both measures point the same way, which makes a pure GDP revision a less likely explanation. We cannot rule anything in or out from two series alone.

Why does the chart start in 2014?

The World Bank series shows a break between 2012 and 2013. Education spending as a share of GDP reads 7.92% in 2012 and 4.58% in 2013. The share of government spending reads 26.58% in 2012 and 21.22% in 2013. Earlier values, such as 8.14% of GDP in 2011, sit in the same high range.

We checked what happened to the money. Multiplying each share by the World Bank's GDP in current cedis gives spending of about GH¢5.96 billion in 2012 and GH¢5.70 billion in 2013, a small dip. Over the same year the GDP figure itself jumps from GH¢75.3 billion to GH¢124.5 billion, a rise of 65%. The deflator in the same dataset equals 100 in 2013, which marks 2013 as the base year of the newer national accounts. The Ghana Statistical Service reportedly rebased the economy from a 2006 base to 2013, which added about a quarter to the size of the economy. This is our reading of the numbers, and we have not seen a statement that ties the education series to that rebasing. It does fit the pattern: the cedi amount barely moved, and the share fell because the figure it is divided by was redrawn.

So the drop from 8% to 4.6% is not two thirds of the education budget disappearing. Comparing 2011 with 2022 gives a headline that reads like a collapse, but it compares numbers measured two different ways. We start the charts at 2014, the first full year on the newer basis, and use only the years since.

Pupil numbers rose over the same period

Spending is only half of the picture. The other half is how many children it has to cover.

World Bank counts of enrolment, again from UNESCO, show secondary pupils rising from 1,723,734 in 2008 to 3,334,409 in 2024, an increase of 93%. Primary pupils rose from 3,625,178 to 4,984,126, up 37%. Over the shorter 2014 to 2022 window, secondary enrolment grew 45% and primary 16%, while the education share of GDP fell about 34%.

Those numbers are on different scales, so the next section puts them on one footing.

What the pupil counts do show is a system that grew a lot. Our pages on school enrolment in Ghana and on the Free SHS data to 2018/19 hold the official ratios behind this. The jump in secondary numbers began before the Free SHS years, and it has continued since. The World Bank series also has a gap, because it has no value for 2023, so we compare 2008 with 2024 and leave the years between uncharted.

For one view of who these pupils are, our companion story on how girls caught up with boys in enrolment uses the same sources.

What happened to spending per pupil? Our calculation

A falling share of GDP does not say whether each child gets less. The economy can grow while the school budget keeps pace with prices, or the other way round. To get closer to the answer we built a per-pupil figure ourselves. It is not an official statistic and no ministry publishes it. Here is the method, so you can check it.

1. Take education spending as a share of GDP from the World Bank series (SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS) and multiply it by GDP in current cedis (NY.GDP.MKTP.CN). That gives spending in the money of each year.
2. Divide by the GDP deflator (NY.GDP.DEFL.ZS, 2013 = 100) and multiply by 100. That removes price rises and gives spending in 2013 cedis.
3. Divide by the number of primary plus secondary pupils (SE.PRM.ENRL and SE.SEC.ENRL).

The result is on the chart below. Everything is set to 100 in 2014 so the three lines can be read together.

Real spending in 2013 cedis went from GH¢5.63 billion in 2014 to GH¢5.27 billion in 2022, a fall of about 6%. Primary and secondary pupils went from 6,382,844 to 8,050,180, a rise of 26%. Divide one by the other and spending per pupil goes from GH¢883 to GH¢655 in 2013 prices, a fall of 26%. The economy in real terms grew about 41% over the same years, which is why the share of GDP fell by a third while spending per pupil fell by a quarter. Both are true, and they measure different things.

The line is jagged. Real spending per pupil was 96.9 in 2015, 84.3 in 2017, 96.6 in 2018 and 79.8 in 2019 (2014 = 100). We would not build a story on any single year. The direction over eight years is clear, and it holds under two other ways of checking. Using consumer prices (the World Bank's inflation series, FP.CPI.TOTL) in place of the GDP deflator gives a fall of 28% rather than 26%. Counting pre-primary and tertiary students as well, which the source only has up to 2019, gives a fall of 20% between 2014 and 2019, the same as on the primary and secondary base for those years.

What the Ministry of Finance figures say

We compared our World Bank-based numbers with the Ministry of Finance's own reports. The Ministry's 2023 end-year budget performance report records actual expenditure of GH¢24.15 billion by the Ministry of Education in 2023. The 2024 report records GH¢33.29 billion for 2024. Using the same deflator, those are GH¢5.08 billion and GH¢5.57 billion in 2013 prices, or 2.72% and 2.81% of GDP.

Our World Bank-based figure for 2022 is GH¢5.27 billion and 2.91% of GDP. So the Ministry's own books show real education spending in 2023 and 2024 within about 6% of the 2022 level, with no sign that a large amount of money is missing from the World Bank series. In 2024 the Ministry's spending divided by the 8,318,535 primary and secondary pupils the World Bank counts comes to about GH¢669 per pupil, close to our 2022 figure of GH¢655 and well below GH¢883 in 2014.

This is a loose check, and we say so. The Ministry of Education total includes internally generated funds and donor money, and it leaves out spending by other ministries and local government, which the World Bank definition may include. The two sources do not cover the same things. The check shows that they agree on the scale and the direction. It does not prove our per-pupil number to the nearest cedi.

What this calculation cannot tell you

The deflator covers the whole economy. Teaching costs follow salaries more than prices, and we did not find a verified education cost index, so we used the GDP deflator and tested consumer prices. If teachers' pay rose faster than prices, the true real fall is smaller. If it rose more slowly, the true fall is larger.

The pupil base is narrow. Spending covers every level of education, while pupils are primary and secondary only, so the cedi level is too high and only the trend should be read. The spending series ends in 2022, and enrolment has a gap in 2023. Spending per pupil is also an input and says nothing about quality, because the data cannot tell you what a cedi bought.

So the hypothesis that money per learner fell in real terms is supported for 2014 to 2022, by about a quarter on our measure. The larger claim sometimes made, that education spending collapsed by two thirds, comes from comparing across a break in the data and is not supported.

Free SHS statistics: what the Ministry of Finance reports

Free SHS began in the 2017/18 academic year. The Ministry of Finance reports first-year numbers in its mid-year budget reviews, which are published as PDFs on its website. We read the reviews for 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023 and 2024 on 13 October 2026.

The six official first-year figures are 362,118 (2017/18), 432,791 (2018/19), 404,851 (2019/20), 423,320 (2020/21), 447,396 (2022/23) and 509,925 (2023/24). They add up to 2,580,401. There is no figure for 2021/22 in the reviews we read, and we did not find a first-year number for later years in the 2025 or 2026 reviews.

Fact-Check Ghana, a Ghanaian fact-checking outlet, published a table of seven cohorts that totals 3,135,754. Six of its figures match the reviews exactly. The seventh, 555,353 for 2021/22, is the one that needs care. The 2022 mid-year review says that of 571,892 BECE candidates "this year", 555,353 qualified for placement into senior high school. The same paragraph says Government was still validating a headcount of first-year students.

The 2023 review later reports 447,396 first-year students for 2022/23. These two numbers look like different measures of the same entry year, one counting qualified candidates and the other counting students who enrolled. The documents do not say so in as many words, so we label this our reading. Either way, qualified for placement and enrolled are not the same thing.

A few smaller differences are also worth knowing. Fact-Check Ghana's article quotes the 2018 review as giving 177,692 day students. The review itself says 117,692, and with 244,426 boarders that sums to the 362,118 total. The 2017/18 intake also appears as 362,108 in the 2019 and 2020 reviews and as 362,775 in the 2024 review. These are small gaps, and they show that even official series get revised.

What does "5.7 million beneficiaries" count?

The 2024 mid-year speech says that "a cumulative total of 5.7 million young people have benefitted" from the programme, and that over GH¢9.9 billion had been spent to date. The speech gives no breakdown. Fact-Check Ghana reports that President Akufo-Addo used 5.1 million and Education Minister Adutwum used 5.7 million on 25 March 2024.

Read side by side, the Ministry's own papers use the word "beneficiaries" for more than one thing.

The table shows why one word can lead to different totals. Three streams of students sit in school at once, so adding the enrolment of each year counts a student up to three times. Adding only first-year intakes counts each student once. Fact-Check Ghana, quoting the director of Africa Education Watch, argues that the 5.7 million looks like a count of the first kind. Its executive director is quoted calling that double counting. The Ministry's papers we read do not say how the 5.7 million was built, so we cannot confirm that or rule it out.

We make no claim about who is right. The six intakes we could match add up to 2,580,401, and Fact-Check Ghana's seven-year total is 3,135,754. Fact-Check Ghana also cites Africa Education Watch for a figure of 2.5 million through 2022/23, which is reported and not checked by us. A definition of "benefited" is needed before any of these numbers can be compared.

Fact-Check Ghana rated the 5.7 million claim false in its own article. That is its verdict and not ours. We cannot see the sum behind the number, so we report the definitions and leave the conclusion to the reader.

A second person at our editorial desk will check every Free SHS figure on this page before it is published. Until then this page stays a draft.

Core maths passes before and after the first Free SHS cohort

Mathematics is the subject people reach for when asking whether more access has come with stronger results. The figures are WASSCE core maths, share of candidates with grades A1 to C6, the credit range.

WAEC's provisional release for 2019, reported by the Ghanaian Times, put the figure at 65.31% against 38.33% a year earlier. A Ghana Education Service analysis reported by the same paper in November 2020 gave 65.71% for the first group of Free SHS students. A WAEC statement relayed by Ghana News Agency gives 61.39% for 2022, 62.23% for 2023, 66.86% for 2024, and 48.73% for 2025.

So the line rose sharply before 2020, held for several years, and fell in 2025. The 2025 drop is large. What it means we cannot say from this data. The candidate groups changed over these years, and the sources do not describe them in the same way. In the 2020 article, for example, one paragraph says over 370,000 students sat the exam and another says about 342,500. We did not find a published 2021 figure and do not plot one.

No cause can be taken from this line. Many things can move a pass rate, including the paper, the marking and who sits the exam. Our WASSCE results statistics page holds more of the series, and the WASSCE grade calculator shows what the grades mean for entry.

How does a budget promise get tracked?

Budgets are promises, and spending is the receipt. Tracking one against the other takes both documents, side by side, for the same year.

PollsAfrica, a sister research firm, publishes a budget promise index that scores each government's approved budget against two published targets, one for education and one for health. Its 10 October 2026 edition reports Ghana's approved 2026 education share at 13.8% of the central government budget, and scores only four of 54 countries. That is a different measure from the World Bank figures above, in a different year, so the two should not be compared directly.

The 2026 Budget Statement, published by the Ministry of Finance, allocates GH¢33.3 billion to the Ministry of Education and GH¢9.9 billion to the Ghana Education Trust Fund, and provisions GH¢4.2 billion for Free Secondary Education. Those are allocations for 2026. They are not spending outturns and cannot be set against the 2022 World Bank percentages.

Where to look next

A falling national share does not mean your child's school got less. That depends on the school, the district and the term. If you are choosing a school, browse the senior high school categories ranking or look at schools by region. Our methodology page explains how we handle gaps.

The other stories in this series cover what universities and TVET institutions report about their numbers and home internet, mobile phones and learning. The wider set is in the Ghana education in numbers hub, and every story sits in our education data resources.

What we left out and why

• A verified education cost index. The per-pupil figure uses the GDP deflator and a consumer price check, not an index of teaching costs.
• Spending before 2014. The series breaks between 2012 and 2013, where the GDP series was rebased.
• A total for Free SHS beneficiaries. We found no first-year figure for 2021/22 and did not read later intakes.
• Where the 5.7 million came from. The speech gives no breakdown.
• Why results moved. We have no cohort tracking data, and none is public.
• Household costs and private schools. Our spending sources cover government spending only.

Frequently asked questions

How much of Ghana's budget goes to education?

On the World Bank series, education took 13.18% of government spending in 2022, down from 20.99% in 2014. PollsAfrica reports a 2026 approved share of 13.8% of the central government budget. The measures and years differ, so we do not compare them.

What is education spending as a share of GDP in Ghana?

It was 2.91% in 2022, the latest year in the World Bank series, and 4.40% in 2014. We start in 2014 because the series breaks between 2012 and 2013.

Did Ghana's education spending fall by two thirds?

No. That figure compares years on either side of a break in the series. In cedis the spending barely moved across the break, because the GDP figure was rebased. From 2014 to 2022 the fall in the GDP share is about a third.

How much does Ghana spend per pupil on education?

No official per-pupil figure exists in the sources we used. Our own calculation gives GH¢655 per primary and secondary pupil in 2022, in 2013 prices, down from GH¢883 in 2014. It is an estimate with stated limits, explained above.

Has real education spending in Ghana gone up or down?

On our calculation it fell about 6% between 2014 and 2022 after allowing for price rises, while the number of primary and secondary pupils rose 26%. The Ministry of Education's own 2023 and 2024 spending, in the same prices, is within about 6% of the 2022 level.

What do the free shs statistics say about first-year intake?

The Ministry of Finance reports 362,118 first-year students for 2017/18 and 509,925 for 2023/24. We found no first-year figure for 2021/22.

How many students are in Free SHS?

The Ministry of Finance reports 1,488,575 enrolled under Free SHS and TVET in 2023/24: 1,320,395 senior high and 168,180 TVET students. That counts students enrolled in one year, not a cumulative total.

Why do Free SHS numbers differ between officials?

Official papers use "beneficiaries" for first-year intakes, for everyone enrolled in a year, and for a cumulative count. The 5.7 million figure has no breakdown, so check which definition a number uses.

Did maths results fall after Free SHS?

Core maths credit passes rose from 38.33% in 2018 to 65.31% in 2019, and were 48.73% in 2025. The sources are not on the same basis, and the data cannot show why results changed.

Sources

• World Bank, Government expenditure on education, total (% of GDP), Ghana (checked 13 October 2026)
• World Bank, Government expenditure on education, total (% of government expenditure), Ghana (checked 13 October 2026)
• World Bank, Secondary education, pupils, Ghana (checked 13 October 2026)
• World Bank, Primary education, pupils, Ghana (checked 13 October 2026)
• Ministry of Finance, budget statements and mid-year reviews (checked 13 October 2026)
• Ministry of Finance, 2023 Annual Budget Performance Report (MDAs) (checked 13 October 2026)
• Ministry of Finance, 2024 Annual Budget Performance Report (MDAs) (checked 13 October 2026)
• World Bank, GDP deflator, Ghana (checked 13 October 2026)
• World Bank, GDP (current LCU), Ghana (checked 13 October 2026)
• World Bank, Inflation, consumer prices, Ghana (checked 13 October 2026)
• Oxford Business Group, GDP rebasing improves Ghana's economic outlook (checked 13 October 2026)
• Ministry of Finance, 2018 Mid-Year Budget Statement and Economic Policy (checked 13 October 2026)
• Ministry of Finance, 2019 Mid-Year Budget Statement (checked 13 October 2026)
• Ministry of Finance, 2020 Mid-Year Budget Statement (checked 13 October 2026)
• Ministry of Finance, 2021 Mid-Year Review Statement (checked 13 October 2026)
• Ministry of Finance, 2022 Mid-Year Fiscal Policy Review (checked 13 October 2026)
• Ministry of Finance, 2023 Mid-Year Policy Review (checked 13 October 2026)
• Ministry of Finance, 2024 Mid-Year Fiscal Policy Review (checked 13 October 2026)
• Ministry of Finance, 2024 Mid-Year Fiscal Policy Review speech (checked 13 October 2026)
• Ministry of Finance, 2026 Budget Statement and Economic Policy (checked 13 October 2026)
• Fact-Check Ghana, Free SHS claim over 5 million students (checked 13 October 2026)
• Ghanaian Times, 2019 WASSCE results release (checked 13 October 2026)
• Ghanaian Times, 2019/2020 WASSCE results, first batch of Free SHS (checked 13 October 2026)
• Ghana News Agency, WASSCE 2025: WAEC releases subject-by-subject performance trends (checked 13 October 2026)
• PollsAfrica, Africa Budget Promise Index (checked 13 October 2026)