A Critical Review of Recent Trends in Basic and Secondary Schools Enrolments in Ghana

With data covering the period from 2001 to 2008, this paper investigates trends in enrolments for primary schools, junior high schools (JHS) and senior high schools (SHS) in Ghana. First, we discovered that at the primary level, the significant educational development in the last two dec-ades covered the North and the South equally. Gross enrolment ratio (GER) was 95.7% for the North compared with 95.8% for the South in the 2007/2008 academic year. Second, we found that at the JHS and SHS levels though the North has achieved significant growth, the enrolment gap between the North and South has not been narrowed. GER figures for JHS and SHS are 67.4% and 22% respectively for the North compared with 81.2% and 33.3% for the South. How-ever, regional educational attainment Gini coefficients computed showed that in the 2007/2008 academic year educational attainment distribution in the North was more equitable than in the South. This is an indication of dramatic improvement of education opportunities in that part of the country.Keywords: Education, gross enrolment ratio, net enrolment ratio, Gini coefficient, inequality, Ghana governmen