Basic Education is in crisis – NAGRAT rings alarm bells as capitation grant goes into arrears

The National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) is worried over the seeming neglect of Basic Education in the country warning that the situation could spell doom for education in general in the country.

President of NAGRAT, Mr. Angel Carbonu underscored the significance of Basic Education but observed that much attention has been paid to the Senior High School (SHS) following the introduction of the Free SHS to the neglect of the fundamentals.

“The third issue is the stressful issue we find ourselves in both basic schools and Senior High Schools. With the advent of Free Senior High School, the attention is shifted from Basic Schools to Senior High. Meanwhile, for any educational system to stand the test of time, we need to look at the basic school in our educational system. The Bible itself even says that shows the child the way he should go and he will never grow to depart from it. It is our view that when we get our basic school right, we will get our educational issues right”, he revealed at a press conference.

According to him, basic schools in the country have also been starved of resources as Capitation Grant used for recurrent expenditure is in arrears.

“Capitation Grant is in arrears for more than two terms for the Basic Schools. Capitation grant is the amount of money the headmasters and headmistress use for recurrent expenditure. If the furniture is broken, if windows are broken, if doors are broken, purchase of chalk, dusters and all materials needed”, he revealed.