Ghana’s education system may be producing graduates who know the content, but employers increasingly need workers who know how to use that knowledge in the real world.
This is a disconnect that is deepening the country’s graduate employment challenge. According to the Talent Acquisition Specialist at Jobberman Ghana, Alfred Quaye, the problem goes beyond the often-repeated narrative that Ghana simply lacks enough jobs.
At the centre of the challenge, he argues, is a widening gap between what students learn in classrooms and the practical tools they are expected to use at work.
Speaking during The High Street Journal’s The High Street Talks on Career Coaching for BECE & WASSCE Students and Parents, Alfred Quaye said Ghana’s predominantly content-based approach to education often leaves graduates familiar with theories but unprepared for the technologies and systems that power modern workplaces.
“It’s not only about lack of jobs,” he noted, pointing to the disconnect between classroom delivery and actual workplace demands.
He notes that a graduate may therefore spend years mastering academic content, only to discover on their first day at work that knowing the theory is not enough.
An accounting graduate, for instance, may understand accounting principles but struggle when handed QuickBooks. A communications graduate may have mastered communication theories but be unfamiliar with the digital platforms used to collaborate with teams. Another employee may understand presentation techniques but have little experience using Zoom or other workplace software.
The certificate gets them through the door; the skills determine whether they can function once inside.
The Talent Acquisition Specialist’s observation reinforces an earlier warning from Joseph Nii Otinkorang, an HR expert with Axis Capital, who argued that Ghana’s biggest employment mismatch is not necessarily a shortage of graduates or even jobs, but a shortage of graduates equipped to solve the problems employers are hiring them to solve.
Nii Otinkorang illustrated the problem with the common recruitment scenario where a first-class graduate arrives with an impressive CV and several certificates, but struggles when asked to explain a problem they have actually solved or a project they have independently delivered.
Together, the two perspectives expose two sides of the same problem. Ghana is teaching young people what to know, while the labour market increasingly demands that they know what to do.
This has practical consequences for students and parents making educational choices. Academic performance remains important, but it cannot be the only measure of career readiness.
Students need opportunities to work with industry-standard software, undertake real projects, solve practical problems, gain internships and apprenticeships, and develop the digital and technical skills demanded by employers before they graduate.
Otherwise, Ghana risks maintaining an education-to-employment pipeline where graduates emerge with certificates in hand, employers have vacancies on their desks, yet both sides still struggle to connect.
The challenge, therefore, is producing graduates who can hit the ground running.
