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The article traces weak performance trends over key years and highlights gaps in primary and upper-primary mastery. It examines why policy investments and STEM initiatives have not translated into improved outcomes, linking shortcomings to deficit-framed achievement and Eurocentric schooling that marginalizes Indigenous Ghanaian knowledge, with implications for curriculum and teaching reform.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/towards-an-anti-colonial-turn-in-science-and-mathematics-education-centering-indigenous-ghanaian-knowledge/602302/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/towards-an-anti-colonial-turn-in-science-and-mathematics-education-centering-indigenous-ghanaian-knowledge/602302.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"dawugda","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-04","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":34},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What problem does the article focus on in Ghana’s education system?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It focuses on the sustained learning crisis in mathematics and science, evidenced by low student performance in national examinations and international assessments like TIMSS.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What evidence does the article cite to describe Ghana’s declining or persistently low performance?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"It cites TIMSS rankings for Ghanaian eighth graders across multiple years and national standards examination results for primary-level pupils, including low mastery rates and high proportions failing minimum competency.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"Why does the article argue current reforms may not be improving outcomes?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"It argues that despite interventions such as free education, STEM investment, and infrastructure expansion, improvements remain unrealized due to factors like deficit perspectives and Eurocentric teaching and assessment that neglect Indigenous Ghanaian knowledge.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},602302,1792190403,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":34,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":46,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":31},3985747870947,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2","Educational Considerations  \n\n| Volume 50\u003Cbr>Number 3 Exploring African Education,\u003Cbr>Innovative Solutions, and Diverse Perspectives\u003Cbr>for a Global Competent Citizenry | Article 6 |\n| --- | --- |\n| July 2025\u003Cbr>Towards an Anti-Colonial Turn in Science and Mathematics Education: Centering Indigenous Ghanaian Knowledge\u003Cbr>Kenneth Gyamerah\u003Cbr>Ontario Tech University, [kenneth.gyamerah@ontariotechu.ca](kenneth.gyamerah@ontariotechu.ca)\u003Cbr>Follow this and additional works at: [https://newprairiepress.org/edconsiderations](https://newprairiepress.org/edconsiderations)\u003Cbr> Part of the Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Indigenous Education Commons, International and Comparative Education Commons, and the Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons\u003Cbr>\u003Cbr>This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License. |  |\n\nRecommended Citation  \nGyamerah, Kenneth (2025) \"Towards an Anti-Colonial Turn in Science and Mathematics Education: Centering Indigenous Ghanaian Knowledge,\" Educational Considerations: Vol. 50: No. 3. [https://doi.org/](https://doi.org/)[ ](https://doi.org/)10.4148/0146-9282.2436  \nThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by New Prairie Press. It has been accepted for inclusion in Educational Considerations by an authorized administrator of New Prairie Press. For more information, please [contact](contact cads@k-state.edu)[ cads@k-state.edu](contact cads@k-state.edu).  \nTowards an Anti-Colonial Turn in Science and Mathematics Education: Centering Indigenous Ghanaian Knowledge  \nKenneth Gyamerah  \nIntroduction  \nIn the past three decades, Ghana’s educational system has faced significant challenges in  \naddressing the learning crisis in mathematics and science (Fletcher, 2018; Mereku, 2013) . Within  \nthis period, national data on student success and international assessment benchmarks, such as  \nthe Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), reported poor academic  \nperformance of Ghanaian students in these core subjects (Mensah & Baidoo-Anu, 2022) .  \nResearch has shown that the learning crisis began in 2003 when Ghanaian eighth-grade students ranked 44th among 45 participating countries in TIMSS (Fletcher, 2018; Mensah & Baidoo-Anu, 2022). It is worth highlighting that Ghana’s mathematics and science problems did not improve  \nin subsequent years. For instance, in 2007, Ghana's eighth graders were ranked 47th out of 48  \nparticipating countries in TIMSS, once again scoring low in both mathematics and science  \n(Gonzalez et al., 2009) . This downward trend continued until 2011 when Ghana occupied the  \nlowest position in mathematics.  \nSimilarly, in the most recent National Standards Examination for primary school students, barely  \n50% of sixth grade pupils in Ghana achieved the foundational proficiency level in mathematics  \nand science, with just 10.9% reaching the maximum level (Ministry of Education Ghana, 2022) .  \nAlso, for both third and sixth grades, approximately 40% of students failed to meet the minimum competency level in these subjects (Ministry of Education Ghana, 2022) . While acknowledging that these types of assessments may be problematic in the ways they evaluate learning, they can,  \nto some extent, provide an important national and international baseline to understand the  \nacademic performance of students. These learning opportunity gaps in mathematics and science education in Ghana, especially in primary and high school levels, demonstrate the pressing need  \nfor transformational approaches to mathematics and science education in Ghanaian schools.  \nAlthough in recent times, there have been significant policy interventions, such as the  \nintroduction of universally free education from primary to high school (Asante, 2024; Chanimbe & Dankwah, 2021), the Capitation Grant (including free meals for schoolchildren in low-income  \ncommunities in Ghana), substantial investments in Science, Technology, Engineering, an","cbCaifn7wbT5iIaF","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaifn7wbT5iIaF","pdf",394774,"English","# Introduction\n## Learning crisis in Ghana’s mathematics and science\n## Policy interventions and persistent learning gaps\n## Eurocentric schooling and the role of Indigenous Ghanaian knowledge","[{\"question\":\"What problem does the article focus on in Ghana’s education system?\",\"answer\":\"It focuses on the sustained learning crisis in mathematics and science, evidenced by low student performance in national examinations and international assessments like TIMSS.\"},{\"question\":\"What evidence does the article cite to describe Ghana’s declining or persistently low performance?\",\"answer\":\"It cites TIMSS rankings for Ghanaian eighth graders across multiple years and national standards examination results for primary-level pupils, including low mastery rates and high proportions failing minimum competency.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does the article argue current reforms may not be improving outcomes?\",\"answer\":\"It argues that despite interventions such as free education, STEM investment, and infrastructure expansion, improvements remain unrealized due to factors like deficit perspectives and Eurocentric teaching and assessment that neglect Indigenous Ghanaian knowledge.\"}]","Towards an Anti-Colonial Turn in Science and Mathematics Education - Centering Indigenous Ghanaian Knowledge | PDF",1792094433]