Policy Brief No. 15. The Education-Outcomes Gap for Youth in Ghana: Addressing Raised Expectations

Abstract

The current challenge for many African Governments including Ghana is to enable youth to progress through a modern system of education in the midst of traditional rural community life and deagrarianisation, high levels of poverty, urban migration, unequal quality in school provision and weakening parental and social structures. Academic and policy researchers have begun to unearth the tremendous risk for often weak states unable to meet the expectations of this generation of Africans. Governments often fail to focus on the needs of youth, listen to their voices, and understand the barriers that the social and economic context poses for young people out of school. As a result the particular challenges that youth face in using education as a means of developing their talents and capabilities can be neglected. This brief considers the policy implications of the findings from recent research carried out in two contrasting poverty zones in Northern and Southern Ghana