Education Ministry Moves To Close Ghana’s Numeracy Gap In Basic Schools

Ghana's Ministry of Education is weighing a stronger national push for numeracy after acknowledging that mathematics support in basic schools has not matched the scale of attention given to literacy programmes.

The issue came into sharp focus at the 2026 World Access Brainest National Abacus Competition in Accra, where pupils from across the country demonstrated mental arithmetic and problem-solving skills. For ministry officials, the event became more than a contest. It exposed a gap in how the country has treated reading and mathematics at the early stages of learning.

Isaac Atta Baah, Head of Unit in charge of Early Childhood Education and Principal Programmes Officer at the Ministry of Education, said the ministry has rolled out several reading-focused interventions over the years, but numeracy has not received the same sustained policy attention.

"We've realised over the years that we have put a lot of interventions in place to help children to read, but it looks as if we've given little or no regard to numeracy," Mr Atta Baah said.

Ministry to consider scaling abacus initiative

Mr Atta Baah said he would submit a report on the competition to the Minister of Education and the ministry's management for consideration. The report is expected to recommend ways the programme, or similar numeracy-focused models, could be expanded to benefit more children across Ghana.

According to him, the competition had opened the eyes of the ministry to the practical gains that can come from deliberate mathematics training at the basic level. He said the next step would be a formal management discussion on how such an initiative could be structured, supported and scaled.

"Looking at what is going on, I think I will share this report with the Honourable Minister and the management of the Ministry of Education to expand this programme so that we can also strengthen the numeracy level of children in this country," he said.

He added that any decision would have to pass through the ministry's internal processes, but expressed confidence that the Minister of Education would be open to a proposal that strengthens children's ability in mathematics.

The renewed attention on numeracy comes at a time when education stakeholders continue to debate learning outcomes at the basic level. While literacy remains central to national education reforms, mathematics is equally critical for science, technology, engineering, finance and everyday problem-solving. Weak foundations in numeracy often follow pupils into junior high, senior high and tertiary education, narrowing their opportunities in technical and professional fields.

For Ghana, the challenge is not simply about helping pupils pass mathematics examinations. It is about building confidence with numbers early enough so children do not grow up treating mathematics as a subject to fear. Competitions such as the Brainest National Abacus event show how structured practice can make mathematics active, competitive and engaging.

Girls dominate awards as boys' support draws concern

Beyond the numeracy discussion, Mr Atta Baah also pointed to a gender trend that caught his attention. He said girls won about 90 per cent of the awards at this year's competition, continuing a pattern he had observed previously.

He linked the strong performance of girls to the many interventions introduced over the years to support girls' education and adolescent empowerment. Those investments, he said, appear to be producing visible results.

"One thing that I realised from this, and I think last year too, is that about 90 per cent of the girls were sweeping all the awards," he said.

Mr Atta Baah noted that boys were traditionally seen as stronger performers in mathematics and science, but the balance appears to be shifting. He welcomed the progress of girls but warned that boys must not be left without targeted support.

He said many non-governmental organisations in Ghana have focused on girls' education and adolescent girls' empowerment, while similar interventions for boys remain limited. In his view, the country must now think carefully about how to support both groups so that gains for one side do not coincide with neglect of the other.

He also expressed concern about boys who complete junior high school and quickly move into commercial motorcycle riding, popularly known as okada, sometimes before they are 18 years old. For him, that pattern points to a wider need for policies that keep boys meaningfully engaged in education and skills development.

The message was clear: Ghana's education interventions must not become a choice between girls and boys. They must create equal room for both to compete, improve and succeed.

Competition attracts pupils from Ghana and abroad

Chief Executive Officer of Brainest EduCare Limited, Mrs Hilda Karroum, said the fifth edition of the World Access Brainest National Abacus Competition brought together more than 2,000 pupils from about 100 schools across Ghana.

The event also attracted online participation from students in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States, a sign that organisers see the competition growing beyond Ghana's borders.

"Participants came from across the country and, in fact, international students from the UK, Canada and the US also participated online," Mrs Karroum said.

She said the ambition is to make the programme international in the near future, with organisers eventually taking it to other countries. She also congratulated the winners and encouraged pupils who did not receive awards to return stronger, stressing that participation itself was a valuable achievement.

Mrs Karroum acknowledged the support of the Ghana Education Service, which she said has consistently backed the initiative. She added that organisers want to extend the programme to more public schools so that children from different backgrounds can benefit from abacus training and mathematics enrichment.

That goal matters. If numeracy interventions remain concentrated in a few private or well-resourced schools, the national learning gap will persist. But if public schools are brought in deliberately, Ghana could build a broader foundation for mathematics confidence from the earliest years of education.

The Ministry of Education's next move will determine whether the lessons from the competition stay within one event hall in Accra or become part of a wider national response to Ghana's numeracy challenge.