Accra: The World Bank has called for greater use of research, data, and implementation evidence to improve learning outcomes and equip Ghanaian children with relevant skills.
According to Ghana News Agency, the World Bank noted that while Ghana had made significant progress in expanding access to education, challenges remained in ensuring that children acquired essential foundational skills. Mr. Robert Taliercio, World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, emphasized this during the Ghana and Regional Foundation Learning Evidence and Implementation Support Day held in Accra.
He reiterated the World Bank's commitment to supporting Ghana's efforts to create 'more and better jobs,' highlighting the necessity of equipping children with foundational skills in reading, mathematics, and digital literacy. "Access alone is not enough," he stated, pointing out that too many children completed early grades without mastering age-appropriate skills.
The World Bank reported that gross enrolment at the kindergarten and primary levels had surged from about 60 per cent in 2000 to over 100 per cent in 2026. Mr. Taliercio indicated that a child born in Ghana today could expect to complete approximately 10.7 years of schooling, marking the progress in access to education as 'really notable'. However, he noted that this increase in enrolment had not been matched by proportional improvements in learning outcomes.
Further data revealed that only 49 per cent of candidates passed the West African Senior School Certificate Examination in Mathematics in 2025. An International Finance Corporation (IFC) study also found that in 2019, only 22 per cent of adolescent boys and eight per cent of adolescent girls possessed relevant ICT skills, even though over 60 per cent of jobs required at least basic digital fluency.
Mr. Taliercio highlighted the mismatch between the skills produced by the education system and the needs of the private sector. This discrepancy contributed to high youth unemployment rates, significantly above the national average. To address foundational learning challenges, particularly in reading and mathematics, Ghana is scaling up a comprehensive package of interventions under the Ghana Accountability for Learning Outcomes Project (GALOP) and additional financing.
Mr. Taliercio emphasized that the success of these reforms would rely on effective implementation and systematic use of evidence. He urged stakeholders to concentrate discussions on three pivotal questions: what the evidence showed, what was being learned from implementation, and what should be prioritized in the upcoming months.
Reiterating the importance of learning from implementation challenges, Mr. Taliercio said, "The best designs sink or swim on the implementation." He acknowledged that Ghana had the leadership and partnerships necessary to achieve meaningful progress but stressed that stakeholders needed to remain focused on utilizing research and evidence to improve outcomes for children. "Our task is to use evidence well and keep the focus on research and results for children," he concluded.