Accra: The Government of Ghana, through the Ministry of Education, with support from UNICEF, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and partners, has launched the Teachers for All (T4A) Ghana Report. This report provides new evidence on teacher allocation across the country's public basic schools and outlines practical recommendations to strengthen teacher deployment.
According to Ghana Web, while Ghana has made progress in expanding access to education, improving learning outcomes remains a national priority. National Standardized Test results from 2024 found that 45.27% of learners had below basic proficiency in Mathematics, and 50.33% in English. The Teachers for All (T4A) study highlights teacher deployment challenges as a key factor affecting learning conditions and outcomes in Ghanaian schools.
Approximately 20% of districts are experiencing severe teacher shortages, with an average primary-level pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) exceeding the Ministry of Education's national target of 35 students to a teacher. Teacher shortages are most severe in rural schools, which face the greatest shortage of women teachers, impacting gender-equitable education and girls' learning. These disparities are particularly pronounced in the northern regions, with notably high pupil-teacher ratios.
Students in schools with larger class sizes experience a decline in literacy and numeracy outcomes. Women teachers face additional challenges in rural areas, including concerns about safety, mobility difficulties, and issues with hygiene and sanitation needs. To address these inequities, the Teachers for All (T4A) study recommends prioritizing reforms in several key areas.
These reforms include strengthening evidence-based teacher deployment by using granular data to prioritize districts and schools with severe teacher shortages. Improving incentives for difficult-to-staff schools can help attract and retain qualified teachers in underserved and rural communities. Promoting a more equitable teaching workforce by providing targeted support for women teachers is also recommended.
Teacher deployment affects the quality of learning that children receive. When some schools are overcrowded and others have adequate staffing, inequalities in education widen, especially for children in rural and underserved communities. Better deployment can help reduce class sizes, improve foundational learning, and support girls' education by ensuring more women teachers are placed where needed most.
With approximately 84% of the Ministry of Education's 2026 budget allocated to teacher compensation, ensuring teachers are deployed where the need is greatest is critical to maximizing the impact of this investment. The Teachers for All (T4A) Ghana Report, launched by the government, draws on evidence of teacher allocation and provides recommendations to strengthen equitable, data-driven teacher deployment.