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, providing new evidence on how teachers are allocated across the country’s public basic schools and outlining practical recommendations to strengthen teacher deployment.
While Ghana has made significant progress in expanding access to education, with gross enrolment rates reaching 99.6% at the primary level and 98.4% at the junior high school level in 2022/23, improving learning outcomes remains a national priority.
National Standardized Test results from 2024 found that 45.27% of learners had below basic proficiency level in Mathematics, and 50.33% in English, NaCCA (2024). Evidence from the Teachers for All (T4A) study highlights teacher deployment challenges as a key factor affecting learning conditions and outcomes across Ghanaian schools.
Around 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 (35:1).
Teacher shortages are most severe in rural schools, which also face the greatest shortage of women teachers, with important implications for gender equitable education and girls’ learning.
These disparities are particularly pronounced in the northern regions, where pupil–teacher ratios are among the highest in the country, including the North-East 48 students to a teacher (48:1), Savannah 41 students to a teacher (41:1), and Northern 39 students to a teacher (39:1) regions.
Inequitable teacher allocation contributes to larger class sizes, with implications for foundational learning. Students in schools with larger class sizes experience a decline in literacy and numeracy outcomes.
Women teachers experience additional constraints when deployed to rural areas, including concerns around safety and security, difficulties in mobility, and issues meeting hygiene and sanitation needs.
To help address these inequities, the Teachers for All (T4A) study recommends prioritizing reforms in several key areas, including:
• Strengthening evidence-based teacher deployment by using granular data to prioritize districts and schools facing the most severe and persistent teacher shortages.
• Improving incentives for difficult-to-staff schools to help attract and retain qualified teachers in underserved and rural communities.
• Promoting a more equitable teaching workforce by providing targeted support for women teachers, including incentives, family-friendly policies, leadership opportunities and measures to eliminate discrimination and gender-based violence.
“Teacher deployment affects more than staffing levels; it shapes the quality of learning that children receive every day. When some schools are overcrowded and others have enough teachers, 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 they are needed most. It also represents a smarter use of public resources.
With approximately 84% of the Ministry of Education’s 2026 budget allocated to teacher compensation alone, ensuring teachers are deployed where the need is greatest is critical to maximizing the impact of this significant investment,” the statement indicated.
