Financial aid

There is very little financial aid for families in rural and remote areas in the Northern Volta and Brong-Ahafo regions in Ghana and so poor parents of bright children find it a hard decision to send their child to primary or secondary schools. Even though Ghana no longer charges fees for children to go to school there are associated fees that families must still provide if they want their children to get a good education. And these fees can act as barriers to the poorest children attending school. Children are expected to have their own school supplies such as textbooks, notebooks, pencils, pens or wear school uniforms etc. These cost money, which most disadvantaged families cannot afford. In fact recent research studied by EROP in the Northern part of Volta Region and Brong-Ahafo region in Ghana found only 1% of randomly selected children of poor families passed to secondary schools and none aspire to Universities due to poverty.

When a family does decide to send their child to primary or secondary school and beyond, they often have to take extreme measures to support the child. To pay the fees for secondary school which is the training ground for university entrance often requires poor families to sell scarce assets. The family must often borrow from relatives, friends and neighbours. Increasingly, families do not have opportunities to any source of income. Financial aid for bright school children in primary and secondary school is almost non-existent in poor, rural areas.

EROP with the help of its supporters offers:

• Financial support such as bursaries and scholarship to needy and talented disadvantaged children.
• Provide clothing , books, pens, shoes and stationery to these children
• Provide income generating training to disadvantaged families so they can become economically self- sufficient to help their children