Curriculum review must include traditional and cultural leaders

Education think tank, Africa Education Watch, has stressed that the success of Ghana’s curriculum depends not only on classroom teaching but also on community acceptance.

The group noted that while teachers may instill values such as respect, empathy, and self-discipline, these lessons are unlikely to take root if communities fail to reinforce them.

This call was made during the presentation of research findings on its Gender Transformative Review of the Standards-Based Curriculum, as the government prepares to review the curriculum.

The Gender Transformative Review of the Standards-Based Curriculum evaluates how Ghana’s basic school curriculum addresses gender dynamics in content, teaching methods, textbooks, and classroom practices.

Executive Director of Africa Education Watch, Kofi Asare, indicated that the government, through the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA), should prioritise broad community engagement, particularly with traditional and cultural leaders, to ensure the effective implementation of values education stipulated in the curriculum.

“It’s important that the positive things we want to promote, we must begin to mirror whatever we want to see at the community level. Our recommendation to the government is that if it’s really intentional in promoting value education through this ongoing curriculum review at the basic level government will have to invest through NACCA in having extensive community engagement, especially with cultural securities.”

According to Eduwatch, while the current curriculum introduced in 2019 to replace the Objective-Based Curriculum aims to equip learners with 21st-century competencies, it falls short in promoting true gender equity.

The review found that the curriculum, though inclusive, does not adequately challenge harmful gender norms or actively foster fairness between boys and girls. It also identified weak monitoring mechanisms, which make it difficult to measure progress toward gender transformation within classrooms.

To close the gender gap, the report recommends that the Ministry of Education and its agencies develop practical, classroom-based gender-transformative materials such as inclusive storybooks and activity guides, integrate gender-responsive pedagogy in teacher training, focusing on equal participation and stereotype-challenging strategies, and embed assertiveness and leadership activities for girls across subjects.