For the first time since 2008 where education has been among top three priority in the last five rounds of the survey, round 9 of the survey had shown that only 28 per cent of respondents in the survey of 2,400 adult citizens regard education as a problem that needs to be addressed.

This was against some 49 per cent of respondents who identified management of the economy followed by 44 per cent and 37 per cent respectively of respondents who regard unemployment and infrastructure as major challenges in the country.

About 22 per cent said managing the economy should be the first policy priority of government while 14 per cent jointly mentioned managing the economy and tackling unemployment as second policy priority with 12 per cent mentioning infrastructure as the third policy priority of government.

Speaking at the launch of the survey findings, Dr Edem Selormey, Director of Research CDD Ghana, said that researchers recorded a 95 per cent presence of schools in enumeration areas.

Moreover, about 82 per cent of respondents in terms of public service delivery say it was easy gaining access to services at public schools, the survey showed.

“Meanwhile 16 per cent of respondents said they had to pay a bribe, give a gift, or do a favour for a public official to obtain the needed assistance or avoid problems at the schools,” said Dr Selormey.

In assessing the performance of government in public service delivery, the study showed that 38 per cent of respondents said government has done well to address educational gap as against 82 per cent approval rating in 2017, the highest for the incumbent government.

The survey which had fieldwork conducted between April 4 to April 20, 2022, had a representative sample of 2400 adult citizens where respondents are randomly selected for face-to-face interviews in language of their choice.

Sample was distributed across areas in proportion to their share in the national population.

Afrobarometer is a pan-African, non-partisan, non-profit survey research network that provides reliable data on Africans’ experiences and evaluations of democracy, governance, and quality of life.

So far, eight survey rounds in up to 39 African countries have been completed since 1999 with Round 9 surveys currently underway on the continent.

The survey is aimed at giving the public a voice in policy making by providing high-quality public opinion data to stakeholders.