Theatre for Development and School Truancy Reduction in Ghanaian Basic Schools: A Community–School Partnership Model in Gomoa Mankoadze, Central Region of Ghana

Truancy remains a persistent challenge in Ghanaian basic schools despite national education policies aimed at ensuring universal access and retention. This study examines the application of Theatre for Development (TfD) as a participatory intervention to address school truancy in Gomoa Mankoadze, a coastal fishing community in the Central Region of Ghana. Using a participatory action research design, the study engaged 147 participants including pupils, teachers, parents, community elders, and task force members over an eight-month period (February–September 2024). The intervention employed an eight-phase TfD cycle integrating community entry, exploratory workshops, story harvesting, collective script devising, forum performances, post-performance dialogues, action planning, and follow-up monitoring. Baseline data revealed a mean attendance rate of 68.4% among Basic 4–6 pupils during the pre-intervention period (January 2024). Post-intervention monitoring (August–September 2024) showed improvement to 87.6% representing a statistically significant increase of 19.2 percentage points. Qualitative data from 34 semi-structured interviews and 8 focus group discussions, analyzed using thematic analysis, identified five primary drivers of truancy: seasonal fishing economy pressures, fear-based disciplinary practices, household food insecurity, parental ambivalence toward education, and weak enforcement mechanisms. The forum theatre methodology proved particularly catalytic, creating spaces for stakeholders to rehearse alternative behaviors and negotiate shared accountability. The study proposes a Community–School Partnership Model grounded in five principles: shared diagnosis, cultural embeddedness, institutional anchoring, multi-stakeholder accountability, and iterative monitoring. While the intervention demonstrated measurable effectiveness, limitations include the absence of a control group and the short follow-up period constraining assessment of long-term sustainability. The model offers a replicable framework for TfD-based educational interventions in similar coastal fishing communities across Ghana, aligned with Sustainable Development Goal 4 commitments for inclusive and equitable quality education.