Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch) has raised alarm over a growing gender imbalance in school attendance in Northern Ghana, with boys now more likely to be out of school than girls, according to its latest findings.

The Executive Director of Eduwatch, Kofi Asare, said the trend emerged from a recent census conducted across 20 districts in northern Ghana to assess progress made since the 2021 Population and Housing Census.

Mr Asare explained that the study was designed to evaluate the impact of education interventions implemented in recent years, while also identifying new dynamics influencing school participation.

“It was important for us to assess whether the policies and programmes introduced since 2021 are yielding results and to understand the changing patterns of school exclusion,” he noted.

He described the findings as striking, particularly the reversal of the national trend where girls have traditionally formed the majority of out-of-school children.

In the northern regions, however, boys are increasingly dropping out of school, largely due to economic pressures that draw them into income-generating activities such as betting and illegal mining, locally known as galamsey.

According to Eduwatch, nearly 70 per cent of out-of-school children are aged between 12 and 17, an age group particularly vulnerable to leaving school for work. The organisation says this underscores the need for targeted interventions to keep adolescent boys in the classroom.

Mr Asare, who was speaking to Channel One TV, also renewed calls for the urgent recruitment of teachers in the first quarter of 2026, warning that chronic understaffing continues to undermine supervision and learning outcomes.

He urged policymakers and education stakeholders to adopt focused strategies that ensure equal and sustained access to education for all children, regardless of gender.