Rebuilding our education system to power the digital economy (Part 6)

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By Sammy CRABBE

Over the past five articles, we’ve made the case for a comprehensive, unapologetic transformation of Ghana’s education system – one bold enough to support the One Square Mile initiative and ignite the country’s rise as a digital, innovation-led economy.

We have touched on governance, technical and vocational education, the role of private universities, diaspora engagement, and a new Digital National Service Corps. Now, it is time to bring it all together.

Ghana does not lack potential. We lack alignment. We lack strategy. We lack a timeline. It is time we fixed that with a clear, long-term, National Roadmap for an Education-Driven Digital Economy.

Here is what the next 10 – 15 years could look like if we dared to be deliberate.

Phase 1 (Years 1 – 3): Stabilize, Streamline, and Signal Change

  1. Trim and realign the Ministry of Education and GES: Downsize these bureaucracies and reassign their roles – policy at the Ministry, regulation at GES. Free up budgetary space and redirect at least 25% of their overhead into direct student support through GETFund.
  2. Establish the Education Leadership Commission: A bipartisan, professional body to vet appointments and enforce performance-based contracts for all educational institution leaders. No more political favours. Leadership must be earned.
  3. Launch Public-Private University Partnership Pilots: Lease one or two state universities (e.g., Legon, UCC) under 50-year, $1-dollar deals to proven global academic and mission-based institutions. Require an investment and development plan showing how these campuses will be upgraded using funds that would have been used to build new ones abroad.
  4. Fully Integrate Private Universities into National Planning: Create a legal and strategic framework that allows private universities to access research funding, participate in national programmes (like DNSC), and expand with public support – especially in underserved regions.
  5. Pilot the Digital National Service Corps (DNSC): Launch with 1,000 high-performing students from both public and private universities, embedded in government, startups, and civic tech spaces. Require each team to solve a real national challenge.

Phase 2 (Years 4 – 7): Build Capacity, Systems, and Scale

  1. Rebrand and Invest in Vocational Education: National campaign to elevate vocational and technical education. Modernize equipment, retrain instructors, and align programmes with industrial, digital, and global labour market needs.
  2. Expand STEM into Every District: Ensure every basic school has access to STEM labs, coding clubs, robotics kits, and digital arts. Work with global partners and the diaspora to train a new cadre of STEM educators.
  3. Introduce Regional Centres of Innovation Excellence: Transform key technical universities into innovation hubs with specialized mandates: green energy, precision agriculture, digital health, industrial automation, etc. Let private sector partners “adopt” these centres and shape curriculum with the state.
  4. Upgrade Accreditation and Performance Evaluation: Transition away from input-focused accreditation models. Establish an outcomes-based National Accreditation and Innovation Council that ranks institutions by graduate employment, innovation output, and real-world relevance.
  5. Establish Diaspora Talent Exchange Programmes: Incentivize highly skilled African diaspora professionals to return as visiting professors, mentors, founders, and advisors through tax breaks, fast-track residency, and housing schemes.

Phase 3 (Years 8 – 15): Embed Innovation, Export Talent, and Lead

  1. National Talent Development Index: Develop a digital dashboard to track the progress of Ghana’s education system – teacher training levels, student competencies, school infrastructure, and regional disparities. Use this to guide targeted investment.
  2. Position Ghana as a Regional Education Hub: Attract international students from ECOWAS and beyond by marketing reformed institutions, streamlined visa processes, and high-quality, English-language instruction. Let education become a net forex earner.
  3. Embed Education into the One Square Mile and Digital Zones: Each digital zone developed beyond the One Square Mile must include a campus, innovation centre, and technical institute connected to local industry. Talent must feed innovation, and innovation must feed talent.
  4. Expand DNSC Nationwide: By Year 10, the Digital National Service Corps should cover at least 10,000 graduates annually – solving problems in digital agriculture, public health, transport, and civic tech nationwide.
  5. Institutionalize the Roadmap in Law: Create a National Innovation and Education Transformation Act – ensuring that reforms and funding commitments are shielded from political cycles. Let Ghana’s transformation outlive governments.

What success will look like

  • Education will no longer be a financial burden but an investment in wealth creation.
  • Universities will compete on research, innovation, and industry linkages – not on political affiliations.
  • TVET and STEM graduates will become respected builders of Ghana’s future, locally and globally.
  • Private and public universities will collaborate, not compete, in driving national outcomes.
  • National service will transform from clerical chores to a platform for nation-building and entrepreneurship.
  • Ghana will export skilled talent, attract global campuses, and lead the conversation on African innovation.

Final Thoughts: The 100-Year Test

Someday, long after we are gone, future generations will judge us – not by the speeches we gave or the offices we held – but by the foundations we laid.

Did we equip them to compete, to create, and to lead? Or did we leave them the same crumbling systems we inherited? This series has been a call to action.

A polite provocation. But also a blueprint. If we begin now – strategically, boldly, and consistently – we will not only prepare Ghana for the digital age. We will define it. Let’s get to work.

>>>the writer is a PhD candidate specializing in blockchains and decentralized finance at the University of Bradford. He holds an MBA in International Marketing from the International University of Monaco. Sammy was the first president of the Ghana Business Outsourcing Association and developed Africa’s first data entry operation and Ghana’s first medical transcription company. He can be reached via [email protected]

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