Ghana’s Education Minister Highlights Urgent Need for Innovative Pedagogies to Address Africa’s Learning Crisis

The Minister of Education of Ghana, Hon. Dr. Osei Yaw Adutwum, delivered a passionate appeal to fellow policymakers in Africa to ramp up efforts towards addressing the continent’s learning crisis. He made this appeal on Monday 16th September 2024, during a webinar on Innovative Pedagogies on Foundational Learning, organized by the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) and the Learning Generation Initiative (LGI) of the Education Development Centre (EDC). Dr. Adutwum emphasized the need for urgent approaches to ensure every child builds the skills they need to thrive. This is how he believes Africa will tackle the pressing learning crisis it faces.

In his speech, Hon. Adutwum expressed gratitude to the organizers for their commitment to advancing education in Africa through collaborative initiatives. He described the outcomes of the research on inclusive, engaging, and adaptive (IEA) pedagogies for teaching foundational learning being piloted in Ghana, Kenya, and Rwanda as a framework upon which countries can build to overcome the learning crisis.

“This study focusing on inclusive, engaging, and adaptive pedagogies offers a beacon of hope. It provides us with a strategic framework to confront and overcome the educational challenges unique to Africa. I also believe that we must see a sense of urgency. The educational revolution we seek is at our fingertips,” Dr. Adutwum stated, highlighting the need for a strategic framework that confronts Africa’s the educational challenges.

Reflecting on the potential learning crisis that could impact the continent in the next 10 to 20 years, Adutwum called for a change in the narrative where the continent is defined by the learning crisis. To address these challenges, the Minister said Ghana is running several innovations including the “Communities of Excellence” initiative, aimed at fostering both micro and macro-level innovations in education. This program engages community leaders and chiefs in understanding their schools’ performance and how they can support local education initiatives. Dr. Adutwum outlined the ambitious “90-90-90” plan, aiming for 90% of Ghanaian children to read proficiently by age 10. He acknowledged the historical context that led to setting this target, stating that only 5% of students were reading proficiently by grade two in 2015 in Ghana.

“Today, that number has risen to 38%, with fourth-grade proficiency now at 56%. We believe we can achieve 90%, but it requires a collective sense of urgency,” he emphasized.

In their individual interventions, panelists and study leads, Prof. Jophus Anamuah-Mensah, Dr. Emmanuel Sibomana and Dr Kwabena BempahTandoh shared unique insights and lessons from the implementation of IEA concepts in the three countries. Prof Mensah urged for dedicated engagement with IEA towards meeting the skills needs of Africa’s young people.

Findings from the study showed that policies that encourage IEA pedagogies are in place and the tools to translate these into practice at the operational level are equally available. Additionally, frameworks have been developed in some countries, in both pre- and in-service teacher education, which gives hope going forward. The study, however, highlighted some challenges. For instance, only 38% of observed classrooms across the three countries showed evidence of all the elements of IEA pedagogies. Actual training is limited and relatively few teachers and school leaders have access to it.

Furthermore, while classroom environments are relatively accessible and inclusive, schools are lacking in terms of accessiility and inclusion: limited ramps for persons with physical challenge, not enough toilets facilities, especially for girls, overcrowded classrooms, etc. However, some countries like Rwanda are enforcing school construction standards that emphasize inclusion.

Engagement between school systems and parents were also evaluated. The study found that forms and channels of communication between schools and communities existed, including through individual parents, using teachers associations (PTAs) and school management committees (SMCs). But communication is mostly one way: from school to community. Student learning and wellbeing are rarely discussed and parents pay limited attention to these, instead focusing on learning materials.

The study presented a set of 12 recommendations each with multiple actions at the system, school and classroom levels, including commitments to conduct a nation-wide needs assessment of teachers’ knowledge of IEA pedagogies, support to teachers to develop their proficiency levels, and capacity to teach, in English, and setting up pedagogic committees in schools for the coordination of activities, including remedial provision.