It proposed that Government should meet consistently the Dakar Framework of Action’s minimum requirement of funding for the education sector.

The Dakar Framework for Action affirms that ‘no country seriously committed to education for all will be thwarted in their achievement of this goal by a lack of resources’.

The Budget Analysis Report 2018 report content was unveiled on Thursday by Mr Bishop Akolgo, Project Consultant, ISODEC, at dissemination workshop in Accra.

The dissemination workshop on human development index, a project funded by the Ford Foundation, was attended by stakeholders from the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Sanitation and Waters Resources, the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education and civil society organisations.

Mr Akolgo said within the period under review and including GETFUND expenditure allocations, the Government met the Dakar Declaration's minimum of 20 per cent of government expenditure on education in only 2014 but failed in the other four years.

He said the Government achieved 16.4 per cent, 15.7 per cent, 20.7 per cent, 19.4 per cent, 9.6 per cent and 18.9 per cent in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 respectively.

He explained that this shows that education in Ghana was not adequately and consistently financed and this affects Ghana’s Human Development Index in the long-term but also under development since the sector provides foundation for human development, productivity and economic transformation.

Mr Ernest Awoosah Tay, Acting Executive Director, ISODEC, said ISODEC’s approach to advocacy normally starts with a research, identify the issues and then carry it forward or they develop a concept, pilot it and then carry it through advocacy.

He said years back one of their biggest advocacy issues that they tackled, which was very successful was water; which he attributed to the fact that they spent time on the field learning about water before the project finally took off.

“We also learnt that to have a very effective advocacy agenda, you should have a strong network backing,” he said.

The report said the Government contributes the largest share to education representing between 60 and 70 per cent of total expenditure in education, followed by Internally Generated Fund (IGF) or parents’ contribution (between 15 per cent and 20 per cent), GETFund (11 per cent and 19 per cent), donors (between two and five per cent), ABFA (between one and four per cent) in that order.

It said compensation or wages and salaries constitute the largest expenditure item of not less than 70 per cent followed by goods and services; adding that this had implications for the implementation of the education strategic plans.

It said the more than 70 per cent of the education sector expenditure on compensation would impact adversely on the implementation of the Education Strategic Plan (2018-2030).

It said the strategy is expected to contribute towards removing barriers and bottlenecks to ensure that all children in Ghana have increased access to and participate in inclusive and quality primary and secondary education, including two years of kindergarten with significant infrastructural needs.

It said considering the share of basic education expenditure allocations into the total education actor expenditure, including GETFund, allocation to basic education has dropped from 52.3 per cent in 2012 to 42.4 per cent in 2014 of a nearly 10 per cent decrease.

It said this presents a worrying trend since enrolment in this sector keeps rising rapidly with a decreasing basic education expenditure per capita.

Mr Bernard Anaba, a Policy Analyst at ISODEC, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said the project seeks to look at Government funding in the area of human development index such as water, sanitation, health and education; and how they were impacting on the economy.

He said according to the UNDP human development index, Ghana was way below average; and this the nation must improve upon.