July 2025, Part One

Ghana on my mind

Picture Description: A compilation of pictures showing the sights, sounds, food, and beauty from my trip to Ghana in July 2024.

July 2025, Part One:

My first trip to Ghana was in July 2024 as part of Ghana ASCD’s first International Leadership Conference. It was beyond transformative in that it expanded my worldview of education and was the beginning of relationships that I have deepened over the past year.

The experience also impacted my writing. As my first book was solely focused on the experiences of leaders of color in the US, I purposely chose to bring in voices and experiences of those in other countries for this second book.

I’m headed back to Ghana next week, so I wanted to share an excerpt from the profile on Ghana..…I would love to hear your thoughts or feedback in the comments!

Chapter 6: Implementing Individual Actions

A Global Perspective: Ghana

Ghana’s education system is a dynamic and evolving structure marked by both commendable progress and persistent challenges. It is organized into four main stages: six years of primary education, three years of junior high school (JHS), three years of senior high school (SHS), and tertiary education (Ghana Education Service [GES], 2023). The Ghanaian government mandates free and compulsory education from kindergarten through junior high school. This commitment expanded significantly in 2017 with the introduction of the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) policy, which eliminated financial barriers to secondary education and dramatically increased student enrollment, especially for those from low-income backgrounds (Ministry of Education [MoE], 2018).

At the heart of Ghana’s educational reform is a renewed emphasis on 21st-century skills. In 2019, a major curriculum overhaul was launched to pivot teaching and learning from rote memorization toward critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving (GES, 2019). This shift reflects broader efforts by the Ghana Education Service to modernize education. The national curriculum remains centered on core subjects: English, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, and Ghanaian languages, ensuring students acquire both global competencies and local cultural knowledge (GES, 2023). However, the reforms have not been without issues. Despite changes in policy, teaching materials still lack full representation of Ghana’s rich historical narratives, raising concerns about cultural relevance and identity formation.

Ghana’s educational narrative is deeply intertwined with broader sociopolitical dynamics. Issues of tribalism, gender disparity in leadership, and regional differences in resource allocation all impact who has access to quality education. Many rural schools continue to face challenges including overcrowded classrooms, limited teaching resources, and inadequate access to modern technology (UNESCO, 2023). Policy decisions such as mandating teachers to work year-round without proportional compensation have sparked significant discourse around labor equity and morale (GES, 2023).

As Headmaster Kwame* observed, “Politics can be used, but principals must use it wisely so that it will not affect the performance and growth of the institution.” His insight reflects the delicate balancing act educators perform in navigating political systems, often negotiating for budget allocations, staff equity, and curriculum implementation amid bureaucratic constraints.