Africa-Press – Ghana. On a sunny Tuesday morning in a senior high school outside Takoradi, a young teacher scrolls through an app on her tablet during a Professional Learning Community (PLC) session.
Within minutes, she generates a full lesson plan aligned with the new curriculum. She pauses, smiles, and turns to her colleagues: “This would have taken me hours.” That moment of relief captures the quiet revolution unfolding across Ghana’s education system – an African-led, culturally grounded approach to using artificial intelligence to support teaching and learning.
From Accra to the northern corridors, one can observe a growing confidence among teachers who are now interacting with AI tools built specifically for Ghanaian classrooms.
It is a transformation grounded in Ghanaian ownership, national values and a clear vision for responsible innovation.
A New Curriculum and a National ChallengeIn October 2024, the Ministry of Education introduced a new Senior High School curriculum that moves beyond rote memorisation and focuses on competencies, character development and Ghanaian identity. It is the first curriculum to explicitly prioritise national pride and meaningful civic contribution.
However, the ambition came with an unprecedented operational challenge: retraining 68,000 teachers to deliver the new programme to 1.4 million students. The Ministry responds with a strategy combining local leadership with global support – drawing on the expertise of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) and the Centre for Distance Learning and Open Schooling (CENDLOS), in collaboration with Playlab.ai, T-TEL and the Mastercard Foundation. Subsidised support from AWS and Anthropic helps reduce AI usage costs, ensuring teachers can use the apps at no charge.
At the core of this approach is a simple premise: AI should amplify teacher expertise, not replace it.
Ghanaian Ownership of AI ToolsEach subject-specific app is developed by Ghanaian curriculum experts who infuse the tools with national values, cultural contexts and the educational philosophy underpinning the new curriculum. The AI is trained on locally developed materials -teacher guides, learner resources and gender equality frameworks – creating tools that are responsive to Ghanaian realities.
The Ministry’s effort reflects a continental first: an African education system leading its own AI transformation rather than importing generic solutions. As this author has learned from teachers across regions, the sense of ownership is palpable. They see themselves not as passive adopters but as co-creators in a national project.
Ensuring Quality Through Rigorous Testing
To build trust, the Ministry insists on a four-phase quality assurance process before any app reaches classrooms. The process includes:
Technical Accuracy Review: AI outputs are checked to ensure alignment with curriculum requirements. Apps must meet at least 80 per cent accuracy across 20 consecutive tests before progressing.
Educational Quality Review: Curriculum writers examine the pedagogical value, ensuring the tools support rather than distort instructional delivery.
User Experience Review: Teachers in pilot schools assess real-world functionality, accuracy and usability.
Regional Testing: Selected schools across regions test infrastructure readiness and operational reliability.
This methodical approach strengthens confidence among teachers who are often sceptical of new technologies.
Seamless Integration Through PLCsOne of Ghana’s most innovative decisions is integrating AI training into the existing PLC structure. Since May 2023, all 712 senior high schools have held weekly 90-minute PLC sessions attended by about 84 per cent of teachers. This system now serves as the backbone for national AI adoption.
Teachers learn to use the apps, share feedback and refine instructional practices within a collaboration framework they already trust. QR codes linking to the curriculum microsite and app resources are printed in PLC handbooks, ensuring seamless access.
The result is not disruption, but smooth integration.
Teachers’ Early ExperiencesDuring the initial development phase in July 2025, 29 NaCCA staff were trained to build subject-specific apps. These tools were piloted by 71 teachers covering over 30 subjects. Their responses show strong enthusiasm:
95% report significantly faster lesson planning
99% find no errors in generated content
93% plan to continue using the apps beyond PLC sessions
One teacher’s reflection captures the emerging sentiment: the app does not diminish professional expertise; it enhances it.
A Blueprint for AfricaAs Ghana prepares for a national rollout in October 2025, several African countries -including Sierra Leone, Kenya and Rwanda- have expressed interest in replicating the model. They see Ghana’s approach as:
Scalable, because the infrastructure already exists
Culturally sensitive, with AI trained on local values
Cost-effective, leveraging current teacher development systems,
Sustainable, with built-in feedback loops and content management systems
Ghana’s experience demonstrates that African governments can lead ethical, responsible AI adoption on their own terms, shaping tools that respect local contexts.
Looking AheadProfessor Samuel Ofori Bekoe, acting Director General of NaCCA, explains that the Ministry and its agencies are collaborating with initiatives such as L4H, Code Raccoon and other organisations to expand the development of teaching and learning apps. He emphasises that EdTech companies interested in creating such tools should contact NaCCA for guidelines and approval to ensure quality and alignment with national standards.
Ghana’s journey shows that when innovation is guided by local leadership, cultural grounding and ethical commitment, technology becomes not an intrusion but an enabler.
The country is not simply adopting AI – it is shaping Africa’s educational future.
Source: Ghana News Agency
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