Getting Crunchy with Math: How Ghanaian Primary Students Crush the Numbers Game!

• In Event: Improving Learning from PK-16

Abstract

To get to the bottom of things, we have observed that there is a significant lack of study about the
academic performance of children attending public junior high schools as opposed to private
junior high schools in Ghana. It seems as though everyone has completely failed to pay attention
to this matter!
To be sure, the Ghana government has been pouring some money into the situation in an effort to
improve the academic performance of pupils attending public schools; nevertheless, to tell you
the truth, we are still scratching our brains and wondering if this is actually having the desired
effect. In light of this, we made the decision to take matters into our own hands and investigate
the public school versus private school debate in further depth.
We gathered a group of enthusiastic young brains from junior high schools that were run by the
government as well as private schools, and there were exactly fifty of them. After that, we got
down to business and conducted the necessary calculations. What exactly did we discover?
When compared to their public counterparts, private schools are absolutely completely
dominating the competition!
However, this is where things start to get interesting: when we drilled down a little bit more and
compared three public schools to one private school, the private school still came out on top.
What a great way to put the word "private" in the word "privilege," as it were?
On the other hand, it has come to light that families with lesser incomes who are enrolled in public schools are really gaining ground on their more affluent counterparts. One would not have guessed it.

Authors

• Grace Nhyira Frema Sarpong, Morrison Twumasi and Associates

• Aseda Fowaah Sarpong, Association International School