The high value that Islam places on religious learning means that the community supports many educational institutions, formal and informal.  Many of them are also open to non-Muslims, of course hoping to convert them.  Parents concerned about lax discipline or precocious sexuality in public schools may choose a Muslim-affiliated school for its stricter separation of the sexes.  New converts need only make a simple declaration of faith, but they will need to learn the obligations and behavior specified in the Koran to settle into the Muslim community.  Poor Muslim families often need to cut their children’s education very short so that they can start working.  Unlike public schools, more informal learning arrangements serve those students who drop out for many years or start later, when their economic situation improves or family responsibilities lessen. 

Muslims begin sending their children to Koranic teachers at a very early age to learn the basic prayers and values central to the practice of their faith.  After this initial stage boys and girls are taught separately, but both are encouraged to learn to read and recite the Koran, and to further their knowledge throughout their lives.  Several Muslim-affiliated schools in Kumasi accept both boys and girls for separate classes, teaching religion and Arabic alongside the national standard curriculum for their age.  They have government accreditation and their pupils sit the national entrance exams for admission to secondary schools and colleges.  Many other Muslim children attend public schools, where they should be excused from the routine of Christian prayers and Bible classes.  They attend private lessons outside of school to continue growing in their knowledge of Islam.

Only a few adults have sufficient family sponsorship to continue studying full time.  A Muslim man is expected to work for his living and charged with supporting at least one wife and his children.  He may find time for study with more learned men in the evenings, on Fridays after the noon prayer, or even on Sundays if he has that day off work.  Notable religious teachers or leaders in the Sufi brotherhoods gather groups of followers who rely on their advice and expertise.  Devout older men also gather at a chief’s house or mosque to study and discuss religious and community issues.  

One distinctive feature of the Muslim community in Kumasi is the many classes organized for groups of adult women to continue their education.  Most of these meet on Fridays in or near the various neighborhood mosques; some are held in Islamic affiliated schools.  A typical member has married young and stopped her formal education in order to raise several children.  When the first child is old enough to take care of the youngest at home and to help with cooking and cleaning, she has more leisure to attend classes.  Most members see this as fulfilling a religious duty that applies to women as well as men, and some women become religious teachers in their turn.