Ghana Education System: Can we keep up with the rising tide of change?
Imagine a country where its citizens can’t recite the national pledge; where they cannot explain the state of the country’s political system between 1957 and 1992; or where they cannot speak to the need of pan-Africanism as one of the many solutions to the continents problems.
Then visualize an educational system where rote learning is rewarded with a passing grade in an exam used to test fundamental knowledge; or where the teacher, working in the formative years of a child’s life lacks the proper training to mold hungry minds; or where dilapidated buildings and the lack of basic material fail to foster a conducive environment for engaged learning.
Let that thought roam far, and open your eyes to the reality before you.
Last week religious leaders, teachers unions and government representatives gave life to an age-old debate. Dag Heward-Mills called for the government to revert to ‘O’ and ‘A’ level system because the current system lacks integrity and relevance. David Ofori Acheampong and Christian Addai-Poku of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) called for the government to address deficiencies at the basic education level to reduce failing exam rates. The former education minister Prof. Naana Jane Opoku Agyemang — in response to the civic calls for change — defended the current system and also acknowledged that the government could use some improvements.
While it is encouraging to see citizens express concern for one of the most important institutions in our democracy, their arguments lack merit. In a 21st century, where critical problem solving skills drive economic success, the basic education system does not effectively teach our brothers and sisters the fundamentals required to develop such skills. Simply reverting back to the ‘O’ and ‘A’ level system will not suddenly spark up a teachers motivation to effectively teach his or her students.
The government must nurture the passions of Ghanaians who desire to impart knowledge, explain the creative side of mathematics as well as they would clarify an Akan proverb. The ministry of education must design a curriculum that pays respect to the history of our forefathers while paving the way for a connected Africa. Specifically, the basic education curriculum should be designed to develop the fundamentals, English, our local languages and ultimately our heritage.
Parliamentarians should push for a budget that provides funding to build schools in their constituencies, and fill them with the necessary tools to enable teachers to their best work because without tools, they are only people with unfulfilled dreams.
Beyond that, we must all remember that a Ghanaian child is not educated only within the bounds of a classroom. We are greatly influenced by parents, elders, extended family members, and most importantly, religious leaders. The responsibility of educating therefore falls on them just as much as the teachers. Imbue in your wards the desire to question, the hunger to explore and the motivation to change the status quo.
Admittedly, the nations education system has been effective in the past because, “Ghana used to be a role model for other colonial African countries in terms of our high levels of education. Our judges and magistrates used to be deployed to superintendent work in some of the neighboring countries, working for UAC, and the colonial judicature and civil service. Our soldiers in the colonial West African Frontier Force distinguished themselves in various fields of endeavor during the World Wars in Cameroun’s, Abyssinia, Burma, among others. Those included people like Lt Gen Emmanuel Ankrah, Major Anthony, Lawyer Aduamuah, Sgt. Mike Adjavon, Sgt. Adjetey, among others of blessed memory.”
Further, the Ghanaian government has made efforts to improve the state of the education system in the past. Specifically, “The New Patriotic Party Government after assuming office in 2001 reinvigorated earlier efforts to expand access in education, improve education quality and streamline education management and in particular meet the UN’s Education for All (EFA) agenda relative to the Dakar Framework of 2000.” Yet those efforts did not yield in substantial improvements because educational institutions and teachers alike, did not adhere to the prescribed reforms.
Ghana stands the chance of being left behind in Africa’s rising if the country does not strive to improve the education system for the sake of it’s stakeholders.
The Sudanese say that, “we desire to bequeath two things to our children; the first one is roots, the other one is wings.” So we must work to equip the next generation with the necessary educational tools to soar just as our elders have ingrained certain aspects of the Ghanaian culture within us.
