Ghana & Education

Education has been defined simply as 'the preparation for life' and this has been the basic definition. Truly education has sought and will seek to prepare people for life. BUT how is this preparation done? This kind of preparation takes many forms: formal, non-formal and informal. Whatever form it takes, the objective is to equip the individual with attitudes, knowledge and skills. In Ghana the educational system seems to be in conflict.

Education cannot be done in vacuum; there should be learners and teachers and other materials. From my one-year experience as a primary (basic) one teacher, i think nothing has been and is being done to prepare our youngest generation. The teacher and the learner are two different people- each has his own uniqueness and as such co=operation is sometimes difficult if not impossble. Society does not exist without education and vice versa.

The point i am trying to make which might not be so clear is that Ghana is educating for no-thing! We seem to have educated men and women and not intelligent men and women. We are best described as aliens in our own homes. We do not know who we really are; we have not forgotten. Try telling me who i am and you become my enemy, a man living in coloquial/nial days.

A teacher comes to the classroom with his own set of values and attitudes which might be completely different from that of the learner. I have never considered who my pupils are and where they come from. I go to the classroom with my plan and teaching-learning materials, if there are any and impose on the pupils. I do not think i am at fault 'simple' because i do before i complain-the curriculum says to do that.

A 14yr-old boy is in basic one and cannot write his own name. Children in kindergarten walk more than one km to school and the most 'scariest' aspect is that these kids have bridged rivers to cross. They come to school at 9:30am when class should begin at 8:00am and i do not spare the rod. Why should i? Absenteeism is at its peak when it rains. I think i should understand them but i am myself a slave to the curriculum. Teach them ICT when no electricity and computers are available. Teach reproduction but the flower recommended cannot be found in Ghana. Supervisors come and ask you to use your laptop computer when you are yet to learn how to dnuble-click.

I do not think you will spank me if i say the Ghanaian is being educated on the concept of self-hate. The higher they go on the educational ladder the more they lose knowledge of who they are. There is the assumption that the rich will forever be rich and the poor the poorer. This is perpetuated by our educational system and i am one of such perpetrators. Education has divided our society into the dominant and the surbodinate classes; the former takes all they want by force while the latter has been condemned to everlasting poverty. In our local politics the tricksters usually incite the electorates to fight each other and all they get in return is a cup of sugar, rice and a bar of soap. The best is a television set. Go to the offices and the educated ask for brown envelopes, on our streets those in 4*4 are the worst of drivers.

If an 8yr-old child stands before the camera and disturbs the hips we call them 'talented kids' but if they were to to carry a bag of iced water to enable their parents take care of the family we label it 'child labour', etc. All these confirm the fact that we are lost. All aspects of our life have been contaminated. Our schools are merely indoctrinating us and this confirms what Martin L. King Jnr. said that our universities are becoming great doors of destruction. How long should it take for us to assert our real freedom and what form will it take! Our education is like a prostitute on the street. Any man in a pair of trousers sees her and do a night with her. Politricksters are flirting with our education and we are helpless like a sheep being led to the slaughter or rather standing in front of a bar of soap.

Our teachers are 'nobodies'. We are afraid to be called out because they are shown no respect but i thinj our job cannot be paid for. US$20m a month will not be enough.

Education does more than what we see with our eyes. But all we allow our eyes to see is the 1+1 and the ABCD. We need a revolution in what we learn...