The Role of Communications and Media in Propelling Inclusive Growth in Ghana

Education and professional training offer opportunities for growth to individuals as well as a nation’s economy. Enrollment in early childhood education has increased significantly in Ghana, the enrollment rates overall need to be prioritized, especially for upper levels of education. At the primary school level, the nation has an enrollment rate of 95%, but at the Junior High School (JHS) Level, enrollment drops to about 78%. The enrollment rate drops even further at the Senior High School (SHS) Level where the rate is under 40% and plummets at the tertiary level, where the rate is only 12%. Inclusive access to education is also a cause for concern, as many children in urban suburbs and in rural areas do not have access to primary education. Limited access to educational and professional development opportunities propels, in part, these low and unequal education rates across the country. Inclusive marketing and communication of educational opportunities for constituencies across the country are needed. And, consorted marketing efforts will be most impactful in rural areas as access to education and knowledge of outside opportunities is lower. 

Generally speaking, there are far more English-speaking publications and stations. The number of English-speaking radio stations has continuously increased, whereas the number of newspapers written in local Ghanaian languages has decreased. A primary reason for this lack of inclusive media is the challenges newspapers and radio stations face with regard to the numerous local languages spoken in rural areas. Although media distributed in local languages do exist in Ghana, they are limited by their institutional capacity and are not developed as quickly as English language newspapers or radio stations. Funding presents huge challenges, this is due to the fact that the offices of local language newspapers are located in rural areas that do not have the same printing infrastructure as urban areas do. This means that these newspapers have to wait to send their documents to the capital in order to be printed, whereas most English-speaking newspapers are already located in Accra, and have faster access to printing establishments. This is detrimental to the country’s overall economy as a large demographic of the nation’s workforce is being excluded from up-to-date information about educational opportunities or opportunities for career advancement.

Addressing the gaps within the communications services sector is also essential to strengthening the business ecosystem in Ghana. Continued efforts around developing inclusive media, as well as the ICT sector in Ghana is imperative to fostering an inclusive environment for professional development and by extension, formal employment. Ghanaians often look to English forms of media when seeking information on employment, educational, or professional development opportunities, which excludes communities that do not have access to these types of communications. Thus, there must be additional efforts put in place to close this disparity and ensure that the communication services sector is as inclusive as possible. Not only print media, but also radio stations, marketing, and advertising firms, cable networks, search engines, and even social media platforms need to address the diversity of opportunities in a variety of mediums and languages to continue strengthening the country’s economy more inclusively to form a more robust workforce.

Authored by Aubry Miller and Lale Ceylan

SGI’s Business & Economic Development and International Relations & Development Working Groups 

Works Cited:

Anyidoho, Paul. (2016). Ethnography of Print and Broadcast Media in Ghana. Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research. 2. 104-114. 

State of Education in Ghana. (n.d.). Modern Ghana. Retrieved July 28, 2021, from https://www.modernghana.com/news/509540/state-of-education-in-ghana.html