Who Is the True Bearer?: The Visible and Hidden Private Cost of Senior Secondary Education and Equity in Ghana

In Ghana, the senior secondary education system is funded minimally by the government and depends heavily on costsharing by households. Schools charge various kinds of fees, which add up to six to ten times the amount the government has officially approved for the schools to collect from parents or guardians. Moreover, there are costs that are not visible from the surface, but borne by households. Invisible private costs are a few times larger than visible ones, although they are neglected too often. The authors compared private costs among urban boarding schools, schools in small towns, and community schools. The community school has been considered a cheaper form of secondary education and has attracted students from less-stable financial backgrounds; however, this study reveals that community-school students pay as much as those in urban schools, regardless of the quality of education they receive.