Ghana and South Korea have signed a memorandum of understanding in Accra to launch the second phase of the Digital STEM Education Project, which will introduce robotics and coding into primary schools. According to a Facebook post by Ghana’s Ministry of Education on Wednesday, July 8, the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) will invest $28 million in the program between 2026 and 2032.

During the signing ceremony, Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu announced that electronics and artificial intelligence would also be incorporated into the basic education curriculum to equip students with the skills needed for the digital economy.

The ministry will roll out a revised curriculum covering kindergarten through junior high school before Sept. 30, with digital education as a central component, he said.

According to available information, the first phase of the project, implemented between 2021 and 2025, focused on strengthening girls’ skills in mathematics and science. It covered the Central and Eastern regions. According to the Ministry of Education, the program trained more than 800 teachers and reached nearly 49,000 students.

The second phase significantly expands the project’s scope. It extends coverage to the Ashanti and Northern regions while providing for the construction of the Accra STEM Park and the strengthening of the Northern STEM Resource Centre.

The shift toward digital education will require a stronger education system. Yet significant weaknesses remain, according to data from the Ghanaian government.

A report published by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) in March 2025 found that the pupil-to-qualified-teacher ratio exceeded 50 in the Northern, North East and Savannah regions. That figure was twice the level recorded in Greater Accra, where it stood at 25. The same report said the gross primary school enrollment rate reached 90% in 2023.

Delivering artificial intelligence and robotics education requires teachers with specialized skills. Those capabilities remain scarce in the regions with the fewest qualified teachers.

Against that backdrop, the minister said a new curriculum incorporating digital education would be introduced before Sept. 30. However, he did not provide details on the teacher training program planned to support the reform. Through the reform, the government hopes to improve young people’s employability by introducing digital skills from primary schools onward.

Other West African countries are pursuing similar initiatives. In Côte d’Ivoire, the National Agency for Vocational Training (AGEFOP) launched the National Skills Passport Program for the 2024-2026 period. The initiative aims to train and integrate at least 100,000 beneficiaries. It also includes 10,000 prior learning certification assessments. Results from the pilot phase were presented in Abidjan last June. They highlighted the need to update curricula to better reflect the digital skills most in demand.

The scale of South Korea’s funding for Ghana contrasts with the more limited resources devoted to teacher training elsewhere. It remains to be seen whether school infrastructure, including reliable electricity and internet connectivity, will keep pace with the government’s curriculum ambitions.