Aseda Fowaah Sarpong

Getting Crunchy with Math: How Ghanaian Primary Students Crush the Numbers Game! Abstract To get to the bottom of things, we have observed that there is a significant lack of study about the academic performance of children attending public junior high schools as opposed to private junior high schools in Ghana. It seems as though everyone has completely failed to pay attention to this matter! To be sure, the Ghana government has been pouring some money into the situation in an effort to improve the academic performance of pupils attending public schools; nevertheless, to tell you the truth, we are still scratching our brains and wondering if this is actually having the desired effect. In light of this, we made the decision to take matters into our own hands and investigate the public school versus private school debate in further depth. We gathered a group of enthusiastic young brains from junior high schools that were run by the government as well as private schools, and there were exactly fifty of them. After that, we got down to business and conducted the necessary calculations. What exactly did we discover? When compared to their public counterparts, private schools are absolutely completely dominating the competition! However, this is where things start to get interesting: when we drilled down a little bit more and compared three public schools to one private school, the private school still came out on top. What a great way to put the word "private" in the word "privilege," as it were? On the other hand, it has come to light that families with lesser incomes who are enrolled in public schools are really gaining ground on their more affluent counterparts. One would not have guessed it. Introduction As the World's Educational Scene Rocks, Economic Development Is the Rhythm! Everyone knows that a strong educational system is essential for a country's prosperity (Edet, 2015). Consider this: education is about more than just learning facts and figures; it has the power to mould individuals, communities, and entire economies (Garriga & Mele, 2013). Khan, Fauzee, and Daud (2015) state that a nation's educational system is the key to its prosperity and social advancement. According to Odekop et al. (2016), education has many more purposes than simply producing intelligent individuals. It may improve health, eliminate gender inequality, and reduce poverty. Whether you're talking about cultural subtleties or economic benefits, it's a game-changer. Education has also been lauded by the World Bank. According to their research (Klees et al., 2012), children who have a strong education are more likely to grow up to be responsible adults who are excellent decision-makers, tech experts, crisis managers, and parents. A fundamental human right is education, as the United Nations and its allies have fearlessly declared (Krishnaratne, White, & Carpenter, 2013). The Millennium Development Goals (2015), which seek to eliminate gender inequities and provide every child with the opportunity to complete basic school, agree that education is the key to lifting people out of poverty. Then why is everyone so upset? Reason being, decent people are the key to long-term economic success, and good education is the key to producing good people (Nasir & Nazli, 2010). Imagine a world where students compete for academic dominance in the education arena, which has become a high-stakes battlefield (Khonkarn, 2006). The unrelenting pursuit of academic greatness by parents drives this cutthroat competition. Performance is the deciding factor in the titanic battle between public and private schools (Khonkarn, 2006). Also, where is the fight taking place? Mathematical thinking is required in every school and serves as a foundation for all other studies. Zooming in on Ghana, we can see that the government is pouring money into education at an unprecedented rate (Tangkitvanich, 2013). Education spending has increased by a factor of 15 since 2016, with millions of dollars going toward things like new buildings, updated curricula, and professional development for educators. The catch, though, is that Ghana's educational system is still falling short of good leaders in performance, even though the country has poured a lot of money into it (Tangkitvanich, 2013). The future of Ghana is in jeopardy due to this dismal performance, which also diminishes its competitive shine on the world stage. The worst part is that there is still a huge loophole when it comes to regulating school quality, despite the fact that education is revered as a sacred commodity (Tangkitvanich, 2013). The time has come for some first-rate research to right the education ship and guide it toward greatness on a national scale! Mathematical performances If you want to improve your grades, you need to master mathematics. Yes, there are a lot of studies that compare public school students to their private school counterparts. Example: the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) serves as a general intelligence test for all students in the United States. So, you want to know something? When it comes to science and mathematics, private schools often perform better than public ones (U.S. Department of Education, 2012). Then there's the study that looked at math scores in the US and concluded that, indeed, private schools typically rank highest. But hold on a second - public schools aren't completely irrelevant! On the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2003 math test, students from public schools actually outperformed their private school counterparts. This is according to a shocking revelation made public by the National Centre for Education Statistics (NCES). Get ready to discover the ins and outs of Ghana's education system if you want to crack the code! Math is more than just a subject; it is the cape that protects the developing brain! It trains your brain to be analytical, logical, and prepared to face any obstacle head-on. Plus, mathematics is the key that unlocks all the technological and scientific secrets; it is not only about numbers. Having a head for numbers is, in reality, a ticket to a better existence in this modern world! First, there is the intended curriculum, which is the plan that the administrators had in mind. Then, there is the implemented curriculum, which is the plan that the teachers put into action. Lastly, there is the realized curriculum, which is what the students end up with. The catch, though, is this: The true magic of mathematics occurs in the classroom, not in a dry academic setting. National Association of Teachers, experts in Mathematics claim that educators play the role of conductors when it comes to Math classroom discussions. Listening attentively is more than simply being courteous; it is like becoming a math superhero! But you know what? The Ghana Ministry of Education is on board with the idea of integrating Math with other exciting disciplines to make learning an exciting journey. Student performance in Private and Public Schools When it comes to student performance, researchers have fought for years to determine who is best, and the results are all over the place! Public and private schools are equally effective, according to some academics. You know what they mean? It's all about the teaching style (Al-Duwaila 2012). Though, for some have laid down the gauntlet and asserted that public school pupils actually excel more than their private school counterparts, particularly in the subject of mathematics! According to Lubienski and Lubienski (2013). However, that's not all! A small but vocal group of academics is claiming that private schools have a much more positive atmosphere. The phrase "It's all about the school environment" is used frequently. (Robert and Dronkers, 2003). But you know what? Research out of Nigeria confirms their suspicions, demonstrating that private school students are outperforming their public school counterparts. (John and Olaseyev, 2014). If you ask the Berkeley Parent Network, the Benjamins are king. They think, "When parents are shelling out big bucks for education, you better believe their kids are going to excel. This research will throw you into the thick of the battleground that is the math war between public and private schools in nations like Ghana. Also, we should find out if there is a correlation between how well people do on arithmetic examinations and how much money they have at home. Research methodology In order to better understand how pupils in public and private schools handle mathematics, this study compares the two. The three schools in Greater Accra in Ghana, were chosen at random from a total of 200 pupils: Public school 1 (32 students), Public school 2 (68 students), and a private school (100 students).There was a conclusion that differences in family income and the presence of public and private primary schools in the same geographic area were among the factors responsible for the performance gap between public and private school students, so these three schools were chosen based on that data. Participants were chosen at random from each institution to fill out the survey. Analysing the data using the independent t-test and ANOVA statistical tools is necessary to fulfil the objectives of this study and affirm the objective, which is to investigate if there is a difference in mean performance between students in public and private schools in Southern Thailand at the three schools. Results We noticed that all three schools had an equal amount of guys and girls representing them after doing some serious number crunching. So, it's a tie, each school has an equal number of boys and girls—50 for the former and 50 for the latter. Family dough is where things start to get interesting. Students at Public School 1 and its companion, Public School 2, have a lower average family income compared to those posh students at Private School. It appears that the group associated with the private school may have a little more spare change. Variable Frequency Percentage frequency Gender Male 100 100 Female 50 50 Age 50 50 12 years 42 42 13 years 48 58 Average Family Income (Ghana cedis) Public School 1 500 - 1500 Public School 2 500 - 1600 Private School More than 4000 A comparison of the mathematical abilities of children attending public and private schools In order to get a better understanding of the situation, we dived headfirst into the data that was acquired from our reliable survey questionnaires and then released the powerful Independent Sample T-test. Our goal is to identify any significant disparities in the academic performance of pupils based on gender and the type of school they attend, whether it be public or private. We calculated the mean and standard deviation for both public and private schools. The mean for public school is 21.30 and the mean for private school is 27.04. The standard deviation for public school is 5.083 while private school is 8.097. However, there is abundantly evident that there is a discernible discrepancy in performance between students who attend public schools and those who attend private schools. These fortunate students attending private schools appear to be performing exceptionally well, as evidenced by their higher mean scores, which are consistent with the findings of earlier research (a special thanks goes out to Dronkers and Robert, Grigg, and Olasehinde and John for paving the way!). These differences are statistically significant, according to our T-test study, which delivers the knockout punch! With an astounding t-value of -2.91 and a p-value of 0.004, the disparity between the performance of students attending public and private schools is as real as it gets. Anyway, what is the conclusion? Our initial premise, which said that there is no difference in performance dependent on the type of school, has been proven to be incorrect. A Comparison between Public and Private Schools Based on Family Income The purpose of this study is to determine the significant differences that exist between the three schools that were selected for this investigation. These schools are a private school, a public school, and a public school that are subsidised by the government. The null hypothesis, that there is no difference in the performance of pupils in the three schools that were surveyed status (N=200) was investigated using a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Public school 1 (mean = 26.31, standard deviation = 6.201, number of students = 16), public school 2 (mean = 24.15, standard deviation = 7.315, number of students = 34), and private school (mean = 27.10, standard deviation = 8.812, number of students = 50) will be the independent variables. Furthermore, the AVOVA test was shown to be statistically significant with an F-value of 0.790, a p-value of 0.007, and a Cohen effect size (η²) of 0.095. The conclusion that can be drawn from this is that there is substantial evidence that opposes the null hypothesis, and it is also seen that there is a difference in the academic performance of children between the three schools that were investigated. Discussion We have uncovered some major gold from our analysis, which confirms what the research gurus such as Dronkers and Robert, Grigg, and Olasehinde and John have been hinting at all along: there is a significant disparity between the academic achievements of pupils attending public and private schools in Ghana. You may be wondering why there is such a significant difference. Now, it would appear that those fortunate students attending elite schools have a few tricks up their sleeves. Imagine a classroom that is warm and inviting, with the ideal number of students, and equipped with all the necessary amenities, such as computer laboratories, projectors, and even air conditioning! On the other hand, things are different at public schools; there are classrooms that are crammed, and if you're lucky, you could even have a ceiling fan. However, there is more! The more affluent families who send their children to private schools are demanding that they be treated like VIPs, and who can blame them? They are spending a significant amount of money to provide students with an exceptional education, and the results are showing that it is yielding positive results. Now, this is where things start to get very interesting: despite the fact that the Ghana government is pouring money into the school system like there's no tomorrow, it is not exactly hitting the mark. There is no doubt that they are investing more than other neighbouring countries, but where are the sophisticated technologies and contemporary facilities? One more thing to take into consideration is that Public School 2, where the parents are trying to save money, is really performing better than Public School 1 in the area of mathematics. What a surprising turn of events! Is it possible that these children are receiving an additional boost of motivation from their parents and other family members at home? What is the lesson that can be learned from this? The moment has come for us to roll up our sleeves and go even farther into the realm of education in Ghana. Student achievement is influenced by a variety of factors, including family wealth, instructional approaches, and even classroom amenities. There is a great deal more to learn about these factors.