State–mission partnership and education policies in Kumasi, Ghana

The study aimed to examine the state–mission partnership model’s factors associated with educational quality and social cohesion, and the extent to which this model protects or restricts the religious freedoms and rights of minority faith groups within mission-controlled public Senior High Schools in Kumasi, Ghana. The study employed the convergent parallel mixed method design. Five missionary schools were purposively selected and 20 participants were interviewed. Through the simple random sampling technique 150 teachers and 395 students were surveyed with a structured questionnaire acting as the primary data collection tool. While frequencies, percentages and both linear and logistic regression were conducted on the quantitative data, the qualitative data was thematically analysed. For educational quality, teacher professional development, resource and infrastructure provision and governance structure and role clarity showed positive associations. Social cohesion was significantly predicted by governance structure and role clarity, religious inclusivity and tolerance, school culture and value systems and trust between stakeholders. Again, while the perceived importance of the state–mission partnership model positively predicts the protection of religious freedoms among minority faith students, it is not evenly distributed across school type. The study concludes that while the partnership has positive impacts, the mission authorities should jointly develop a standardised partnership governance charter with the Ghana Education Service (GES) that clearly delineates institutional roles and responsibilities, institutionalises regular stakeholder dialogue involving minority student representatives, and establishes transparent conflict resolution procedures to address religious freedom grievances before they escalate into institutional crises.