Ghana’s Ministry of Education has introduced an innovative approach to the integration of artificial intelligence in schools, positioning Ghana as a continental leader in context-based education technology.
The National Curriculum and Assessment Council (NaCCA), the ministry’s agency responsible for curriculum development and quality assurance, is spearheading this effort alongside the Center for Distance Learning and Open Schools (CENDLOS). The program aims to address the challenge of training 68,000 teachers to deliver a new competency-based curriculum to 1.4 million students, while aligning AI tools with Ghana’s educational vision, values and cultural identity.
In October 2024, the Ministry introduced a revised Senior High School (SHS) curriculum that shifts emphasis from memorization to 21st century skills, character development and Ghanaian values. This is the first time that Ghana has developed a curriculum explicitly designed to instill national pride and enable young people to contribute meaningfully to the country’s development.
The Department responded to the training challenge through strategic partnerships with Playlab.ai, a US non-profit organization specializing in digital infrastructure, Transforming Teaching, Education and Learning (T-TEL), a Ghanaian non-governmental organization, and the Mastercard Foundation. Together, they developed an AI-powered tool specifically tailored to Ghana’s curriculum requirements and cultural context.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Anthropic provided subsidized support to cover the cost of using the AI, allowing teachers to access the application for free. T-TEL is funding the development of Professional Learning Community (PLC) training, teacher manuals, and learner materials with support from the Mastercard Foundation through an existing grant agreement with the Department that began in 2021.
Each subject-specific app was developed by a team of Ghanaian curriculum experts to ensure that all apps reflect Ghanaian culture, values, attitudes and educational philosophies. This approach emphasizes Ghanaian ownership, using AI to augment rather than replace teacher expertise and support a curriculum that aligns with national identity and aspirations.
The ministry conducts rigorous quality assurance through a four-step testing protocol to ensure apps meet high standards before being rolled out in classrooms. A technical accuracy review verifies that the AI output is consistent with curriculum requirements, and requires at least 80% of the app to achieve 80% accuracy over 20 consecutive tests before proceeding to the next step. Educational quality reviews assess educational value, while user experience reviews assess actual classroom functionality through pilot schools. Regional testing of 40 schools will assess infrastructure and operational readiness.
The AI tools are built on and trained on locally developed educational materials, including teacher guides, learner resources, national values frameworks, and gender equality principles. This will enable teachers to more quickly and accurately create assessments and lesson plans in ways that resonate with Ghanaian learners.
Training in these tools leverages Ghana’s existing professional learning architecture through weekly school-based PLC sessions. The Ghana Education Service (GES) introduced mandatory 90-minute PLC meetings in all 712 SHS schools in May 2023, creating a platform for teachers to collaborate, receive training and improve their teaching methods. Nationally, 84% of teachers attend PLC sessions weekly, making them the backbone of professional development and an ideal platform for implementing AI tools.
GES uses these PLCs to train teachers on how to use the app, share feedback, and collaborate. A QR code and app resource linking to the curriculum microsite at www.curriculumresources.edu.gh is printed in the PLC handbook for seamless access.
In July 2025, during the initial development phase, 29 NaCCA staff were trained to build subject-specific apps to support curriculum development, assessment, and materials. These tools were tested in over 30 subjects by 71 teachers across Ghana and received overwhelmingly positive feedback.
95% of participating teachers said their lesson plans were significantly faster, and 99% said they found no errors in the content created by the app. 93% of teachers reported that they were satisfied and planned to continue using the application beyond the PLC session.
One participating teacher noted that the app augmented rather than replaced professional knowledge, and said that for the first time, she felt ready to deliver the curriculum as intended.
As Ghana prepares for a national rollout in October 2025, the initiative has also attracted interest from Sierra Leone, Kenya and Rwanda, who recognize its potential to address similar education challenges. This approach provides a replicable framework characterized by scalable infrastructure, culturally sensitive AI trained based on local languages and values, cost efficiency through existing teacher development systems, and sustainability through built-in content management and feedback mechanisms.
NaCCA Executive Director Professor Beko said the organization is working with AI and app initiatives such as L4H and Code Raccoon to further develop applications to support teaching and learning in schools. He called on all EdTech companies in Ghana interested in developing educational apps to contact NaCCA for guidelines and approval before making them available to the public.
This initiative demonstrates that AI can be deployed ethically and responsibly in a way that respects local contexts, proving that African governments can lead in education innovation rather than simply adopting external solutions. Ghana’s blueprint could serve as the foundation for a continent-wide transformation in education technology integration.
