Determinants of Equity in Access to Senior High School Education in the Ghanaian Education System

Abstract

This study explores equity in the provision of secondary education to public and private junior high school products in Ghana. The purpose of the study was to document the role that gender, programme offered performance score, type of JHS attended, and governing authority of schools play in the seeming inequity in the selection process. The key findings showed that there is a statistically significant difference between public and private JHS graduates in terms of gaining access to SHS. However, the difference was not gender based. It was also found that the level of access to SHS opened to JHS graduates differ according to whether the school is a single sex or mixed sex institution and also the choice of programme. Finally, the study indicated that there is no statistically significant difference between well endowed and less endowed SHS in terms of gaining admission into them. It is, therefore, recommended that efforts directed towards bridging the equity gap should be vigorously pursued.