DRAFT TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND ...

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Gender disparity in access to education is narrowing at the Basic Education level in Ghana as
Table 2.2 shows. At the Kindergarten level the Gender Parity Index is close to 1.00.
However, the index drops marginally as the level of education goes up, meaning a higher
proportion of females drop out of school than males. Those who drop out are likely to
disappear into the informal economy.
Table 2.2: Gender Parity in Enrolments, Basic Education
Level of Education
Gender Parity Index (GPI) Trends
2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08
Kindergarten 0.98 0.98 1.03 0.99 0.98
Primary 0.93 0.93 0.93 0.96 0.96
Junior Sec/High School 0.88 0.88 0.93 0.91 0.92
Source: Ministry of Education, Science and Sports (2008). Education Sector Performance
Report, 2008.
The gender gap is much wider in the NVTIs and TTIs than it is in the Senior High School.
Between 2004/05 and 2007/08 academic years female enrolment in Senior High Schools
ranged between 42.4% and 49.5% (in 2005/2006 only) of the total but appears to hover
around 44%. Table 2.3 shows that in the main public TVET institutions, female enrolment is
very low, accounting for a maximum of approximately 29% in the NVTI centres, 17% in the
TTIs, and 30% in the polytechnics. The higher female enrolment ratio in the NVTI again
emphasizes the fact that females have better representation where public benefits are lower.
The higher female enrolment ratio at the polytechnic can be explained from the fact that
polytechnics recruit mainly from the senior high school where females are better represented.
However, female enrolment in polytechnics is mainly in the applied arts and business
subjects, not in engineering and science-related fields. In general, enrolment in TVET subject
is gender biased; some trades and courses are dominated by males while others are dominated
by females. Catering and hospitality, dressmaking or fashion, hairdressing, and secretarial
programmes are dominated by females while electrical, electronic, the building trades, and all
mechanical engineering-related fields are heavily dominated by males (see Appendix B4).
Table 2.3: Gender Representation in NVTIs, TTIs, and Polytechnics
Type of TVET
2005/06 2006/07
Institution Male Female Total Male Female Total
NTVI Centres (38) 5,512 2,085 7,297 4,943 1,717 6,660
MoMYE
% Female 28.6% 25.8%
Technical Training 16,933 3,370 20,303 13,467 3,081 18,432
Institutes (MoESS)
16.5 16.7
Polytechnics 17,156 7,508 24,664 20,229 8,466 28,695
% Female 30.4% 29.5%
Sources: Ministry of Education, Science and Sports (2008). Education Sector Performance
Report, 2008, p. 133.
NVTI Enrolment Statistics
There are varying estimates of the incidence of children and youth with special needs in
Ghana. One estimate is that about 5% of the population have some sort of disability (Annor
as cited in MoESS, 2008, p. 55). Another is that based on international norms the incidence
of special needs is probably about 10% of the population. While one estimate claims that