Mr Dickens Thunde, the National Director at WVG, observed that historical inequities within the sector and the emergence of the COVID-19 had increased Ghana’s learning deficit.

“There is no single cause of poor learning outcomes among school-age children but studies have revealed that the management of the learning and teaching process, availability of school supplies and the way lessons are thought contributes to poor learning outcomes,” he said.

He was speaking at the maiden edition of the WVG Education Forum themed: “Bridging the learning gap at the basic level with sustainable WASH interventions to support the learning environment.”

The forum seeks to harness collective effort to support the Government in providing quality education and a conducive learning environment.

“World Vision believes that education has the power to change lives and to open the door for better employment, more citizenship and well-informed health decisions that can benefit future generations," he stated.

He added that the provision of decent sanitation and hygiene facilities would increase enrolment and also improve the performance of students therefore stakeholders should ensure the availability of these facilities.

Mr John Ntim Fordjour, Deputy Minister of Education, delivering his keynote address, said the Government was poised to build a solid and robust educational system and was targeting the Gross Tertiary Enrolment to hit 40 per cent by the year 2030 which currently was between 18 per cent to 20 per cent.

He said the Ministry was keen on producing critical minds with globally competitive skills.

This, he added “would make our graduates very productive, especially with recent global economic, health and climate change challenges that face us.”

"The Government is determined to ensure that every Ghanaian child accessing education and also acquire the basic functional literacy and numeracy skills, receive the basic competencies that are required for learning and furthering their education,” he said.

Mr Diallo Abdouradamane, UNESCO's Country Representative, in his remarks said the private sector had a crucial role to play in resolving lapses within the education system.

He said he was worried about the fact that a few can access the quality of education and urged the government and other stakeholders to make quality education easily accessible to all in society.