The educational challenges facing Ghana’s youth

In Ghana, great progress has been made in getting young people into school, and many innovative programmes are being implemented across the education system. But there remains a crisis in learning, with many children falling short of basic literacy, numeracy, and the essential life skills and wellbeing support they need to thrive in today’s world. This is not just a question of improving access to school, but of transforming the system so that the quality and relevance of education are improved for all young people. SCALE (the System Change Architecture for Learning Excellence) is one such response.

What is SCALE?

SCALE is a multi-stakeholder partnership, led by Ghana’s Ministry of Education, and supported by philanthropic, private, and multilateral actors.

It aims to create lasting improvements across Ghana’s education system by prioritising young people’s wellbeing and holistic development (including social & emotional skills, plus literacy and numeracy), by supporting communities to drive change in their own local systems, and by improving evidence-based decision-making throughout.

A shared investment

SCALE brings together Ghana’s Ministry of Education, Fondation Botnar, the Jacobs Foundation, UBS Optimus Foundation, the Global Partnership for Education, and 10 cocoa and chocolate companies in a cross-sector collaboration that pools $118.8 million in funding, the largest amount ever raised for education by philanthropies, private companies, and multilaterals together.

The impact of SCALE

SCALE aims to improve Ghana’s education system so it can respond to the learning and wellbeing needs of all young people today and into the future.

It builds on Ghana’s flagship programme, GALOP, introducing new components that aim to strength the education system,including:

• The GEEDLab a unit within the Ministry of Education that strengthens the use of data and research in policy.
• Communities of Excellence, which involve local actors driving systemic change, learning, and wellbeing in their own contexts.

Over the next four years, SCALE will support thousands of teachers, school leaders, and other stakeholders in 14,700 kindergartens and 16,000 primary schools across Ghana – ultimately helping millions of young people to learn, grow, and shape their futures.