FixTheCountry: Educational Reforms and The Way Forward

Ghanaian Educational Reforms: Is it an oversight or a deliberate intention to fail our youth and generation yet unborn? The Ghanaian problem is an African problem as well as the Nigerian, Togo, Cote D’Ivoire, Niger problems are African problems. The same problem can be found in every nook and cranny region of Africa. One African country can not develop in isolation unless we collectively pursue the agenda with collective will and determination to do what is expected of us as a continent for faster growth and development in every aspect of the life of an African. While we wait and linger on one African frontier, our educational institutions can be scrutinized for their ability to compete with universities outside the continent. Kathleen Blanco “Think about it: Every educated person is not rich, but almost every education person  has a job and a way out of poverty. So education is fundamental solution to poverty.” Ask yourself, is Ghanaian education achieveing this? Are our graduates getting jobs? Are we moving out of poverty or is getting worse each day?

What drives our religious leaders to send their children abroad for education? What did they see to the extent of motivating some of their members to do alike by engaging their wards in the Cambridge curriculum instead of the GES curriculum in their respective schools? What do they know and can not be told but rather demotivate them from our educational institutions? Our political leaders, who are in charge of governing the country, are meeting with these religious leaders in our communities.Can’t the truth be told or a sound of advice to them concerning our educational structures? All religious leaders should bow down their heads in shame, including all leaders on the fellowship grounds. Does it mean that the wealthy and the rich must remain at the top of the ladder of success amidst the poor remaining at the bottom of the ladder? The mission schools which are supposed to help their members and the poor within our communities turn out to be the most expensive education they can afford for their wards. The one who knows the truth and refuses to say it shall face the wrath of God.

#FixTheCountry #FixTheReligion #ReligiousLeadersFixYourself #SpeakTheTruth #TeachYourFellowersTheRightThingToDo

We have about 95% of our political leaders, one way or the other, having some form of opportunity in terms of educating themselves outside the continent. An experience, whether it lasts a few weeks or their entire educational cycle, is still an experience that should not be overlooked. Every exposure outside the African continent can be implemented, emulated through experience or we can have a revised version to suit our environment. We have seen ministers who had all their educational experience outside the continent and had attained higher education degrees and could not solve our educational sector. What drives our political leaders to send their children to top universities outside of Ghana and the continent for their education? Why do you prefer the Cambridge syllabus for your wards instead of the GES syllabus? They claim our institutions and education systems are the best but refuse to allow their wards to attend schools within our communities. In this day and age, we do not need political leaders who are only concerned with their own interests and the immediate benefits of their families, rather than with the welfare of the masses.

#FixTheCountry #PoliticalLeadersFixYourself

Fix The Country: The Way Forward

There are several green areas everywhere in our educational system that we have not exploited. For the past 20 years of experience with our structures, we should have seen good results. If those structures of our educational systems are not working, then drop them, create new structures or, better still, emulate them by experience. Bill Gates wrote that one of four objectives political leaders should prioritise is – “Give every student and teacher new tools so all students get a world-class education.” Has Ghana considered any new tools for it education now and the future? The answer is a big “NO” We can not continue like this in the next eight to ten years else the youth and the generations yet unborn will be more poor than eliminating

1. Graduate Employability Curriculum: Structure our syllabus in such a way that, right from Basic school to tertiary education, students will know the outcome of their educational cycle, including options to choose from. Graduates must be challenged through a variety and engaging learning opportunities that invite students to DO, EXPERIMENT, CREATE AND DISCOVER. A graduate can not go through the 3-5 year educational cycle without being able to demonstrate what he or she has learnt from school apart from theory. Institutions of higher knowledge, both universities and technical universities, must have a one-year full curriculum for engaging their students to DO, EXPERIMENT, CREATE AND DISCOVER, suggestively immediately after their first year. This will broaden and challenge the students to think about solving real-life issues in their respective fields of studies. This will also increase the potential of students to be more creative, leading to graduate employment as freelancers or entrepreneurs. All institutions must recognize and reward new inventions, creativity, and discoveries that cross all disciplines in the university, from Anthropology to Zoology, including publication of these discoveries in peer-reviewed journals. We have graduated students who studied programs such as computer science, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and renewable energy, which are unrelated to the service sector but end up working in it, ranging from banking halls to betting companies.

#FixTheCountry #FixGraduateUnemployment #FixGhanaEducation

2. Tertiary Education Curriculum-Abolishment of Industrial Attachement: Over the years with my experience and exposure with students who go mostly on industrial attachment or Internships end up becoming messengers or office assistants instead of experiencing a real-life work environment. Students fabricate or forge internship reports only to get grades due to difficulty in ascertaining a workplace to carry out their internship. Internships in Ghana must be abolished due to the fact that they do not challenge students (future leaders) enough. The same internship period, which ranges from 12 to 16 weeks, can be used for rescue exercises, disaster rescue missions, military drills, fire protection exercises, and mass tree planting throughout the regions.Something to benefit the nations with national certificates to show for it. How good would it sound if everyone was a rescuer in terms of disasters? Everyone, everywhere can or could save someone from dying or a group of people from disaster. The June 3rd, 2015 disaster at Circle could have been easily avoided, or the damage could have been minimal, but it occurred due to the masses’ ignorance and illiteracy.The May 9, 2001 disaster could have been avoided if most of these supporters and football fans had been aware of disaster control measures, including the presence of fire armed men at the time.These rescue certification programmes must be captured by the education curriculum for implementation so far as students find themselves in the tertiary education cycle.

#FixTheCountry #FixTheUniversityCurriculum #FixGhanaEducation

3. 21st Century students must be challenged by current trends and global activities. Current trends in education require that at age three, kids must be developed and have an interest in robotics, brick building, Lego, electronics etc through educational lessons. What is happening in the public schools in Ghana? Future leaders and potential children who could be experts in a field to help solve Ghana’s problems are sitting under a tree to study as the first deprivation; use of natural keyboard through chalk drawings and plywood as technology learning education as the second deprivation; no public institutions use modern tools to aid in their teaching except to recommend GES text books and nothing more. We need educational revolutionaries in Ghana to transform our educational structures and practices away from what we have seen and continue to see in recent years. Till when will we start giving more attention to our educational sectors and give equal opportunities to all citizens in Ghana? Former and current education ministers must both rise to the status quo of international standards and revamp our educational sector; otherwise, our education will provide us and the future with nothing more than high graduate unemployment with frustration and depression.

#FixTheCountry #FixGhanaEducation #MinisterFixTheSchools #GESFixTheSchoolsCurriculum

Richmond Sarpong

COLT,

Ghana Communication Technology University.