• Africa Education Watch urges Ghana parliament to curb northern school dropouts

• Census finds 3,500 children dropped out in 2025 across five regions

• NGO seeks stricter enforcement of compulsory basic education laws

Education policy think tank Africa Education Watch has called on Ghana’s Parliament to intervene as school absenteeism and dropout rates rise in the country’s northern regions, local media reported on Monday.

The organization made the call in Accra during the presentation of results from a community census it conducted across several northern districts. Education officials and civil society representatives attended the event.

Africa Education Watch warned that many northern communities, already facing economic hardship, are seeing large numbers of children fall outside the formal education system despite the presence of school infrastructure. Instead, children increasingly engage in income-generating activities to support themselves or their families.

Executive Director Kofi Asare said parental responsibility alone was no longer sufficient to reverse the trend. While some communities have schools, he said, parents do not always ensure that children are enrolled and remain in school, making legislative intervention necessary.

The NGO plans to hold formal discussions with lawmakers early next year to present its data and push for stricter enforcement of Ghana’s constitutional guarantee of free and compulsory basic education.

According to Africa Education Watch, more than 3,500 children dropped out of school in 2025 across five northern regions. Many were pushed into child labor, illegal mining, known locally as galamsey, gambling, or other economic activities.

The census, conducted in 20 districts, found that boys accounted for most out-of-school children, with particularly high dropout rates in Chereponi, Nanumba South, Tatale-Sanguli, and Bawku West.

Ghanaian authorities and development partners have repeatedly warned that persistent school dropouts in the north undermine youth employability. A study published in the Journal of Economics and Economic Education Research found that early school dropout sharply reduces access to formal employment, limits basic skills acquisition, and weakens long-term productivity.

In the affected regions, 75% of the workforce is employed in the informal sector, according to the 2023 Ghana National Human Development Report. This exacerbates economic vulnerability and dependency.

Félicien Houindo Lokossou