Location

The goal of Center for Democratic Development’s study was to understand the extent of and reasons for one of Ghanaian education’s most difficult problems: teacher absenteeism. Researchers collected data on teacher absenteeism in 30 schools in three districts, and found, in line with previous studies, that teacher absenteeism is epidemic in Ghana: 47 percent of the teachers in the schools CDD surveyed were absent at least once in the single week during which CDD researchers did their field work. CDD’s study also identified some important possible contributors to teacher absenteeism—such as the need to travel long distances to receive paychecks and attend training workshops run by the Ghana Education Service—as well as factors that seem to be correlated with lower absenteeism, such as a staff common room, proximity to a bus station and a health clinic, and an active parent-teacher association.