The Educational International African Resource Director cites insufficient investment in education as the major cause of the unattractive state of public schools.

Denise Sinyolo says his outfit has undertaken several kinds of research comparing the performances of public schools and private schools. The findings, he said reveal that government has not invested sufficiently in the public schools.

According to the expert, it is unacceptable for schools to still operate under trees and dilapidated buildings in the 21^st century.

He also lamented the extremely large classes which have characterised public schools. Teachers are unable to meet the individual needs of students under such a circumstance, he added.

“What has gone wrong is simply because our governments have not been investing sufficiently in public education. Class sizes are just too large for teachers to be able to meet the individual needs of students. Infrastructure is very poor here in Ghana.

"You have children learning under trees or in temporary structures. That’s not acceptable in the 21^st century,” he said on JoyNews’ AM show on Monday.

Touching on how much needs to be invested in education, Mr Sinyolo explained that there are international benchmarks when it comes to financing education. According to him, the Ghana government has failed to invest to the recommended level.

“There are international benchmarks for financing education. For example, government must invest a minimum of 20% of its national budget in education or at least 6% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

"But how does government measure up when it is investing 12.9% instead of 20%,” he added.

He said should government follow the international recommendation, it would help direct more resources into building more schools and providing necessary teaching and learning materials.

It would also help support teachers through training and professional development, he added.