The idea of Ghana beyond aid is a laudable idea by the government which demands total rearrangement in almost all levels of our national institutions. The educational system cannot be left out when talking about a nation ‘beyond aid’. We need educational system that promises to tackle issues that impede national development – an educational system that will assure its citizens of adequate knowledge and requisite skills READILY NEEDED for harnessing national growth (emphasis capitalized). We need a school system, starting from the junior high school as well as the senior high level, which will enable our young ones to gain grounds to compete with global economy. In that case the nation wouldn’t employ the service of foreigners for our nation, from basic service delivery to Construction works. I hope this is not new because it is a common place to hear of such things as the employment of foreign aid for our developments, I believe this is partly due to lack of trust in own personnel (human resources) and our inability to add value to our natural resources.
To add more to adding value to our natural resources, I remember we were taught in the junior high school in one of the subjects ( social studies or so) that, a nation gains huge amount of foreign exchange when it add value to its natural resources before exportation. All our leaders attended junior high school right? If you should visit the junior high school and ask students about the reasons why a nation should add value to her natural resources, of course, I believe there will be variable and tangible answers, especially if it was to be a question from a terminal examination. How many times have we added value to our cocoa, timber, gold and the likes before exporting them? We are being taught to ‘just’ provide answers to terminal examinations in order to pass and move to the next level in the education ladder without any basis for daily applications. I believe that after a wholesome education an individual should be confident to point out that, ‘this and that’ are the things I can do. Ask a high school leaver what he/ she can do and you will never get a specific answer, and this even sometimes apply to students at the tertiary level. Of what use is formal education, if one cannot pin point what knowledge or skills one has actualize after long years of staying in the class room?
Moreover, the nation, through the ministry of education, need to come out with strategies that will enable young ones to learn from other nations – nations that we go in seeking for their services. This can be done through exchange programs (or any other means), where our people will have the opportunity to visit and learn from colleagues from other countries. Imagine the outcome of such plan; if only ten individuals are sent for a start, who will come back to monitor another ten set of people, and another ten, in that order. If this strategy already exists, there should be plans to strengthen it for the nation to feel the impact. I am not saying this will provide an instant magic for national development, but this will give our nation hope – the hope that we have young ones who are learning new innovations for our nation’s progress sake, a great hope for the next decades, and generations to come. It is far better than repeating old ways of doing things which are no more valid with regards to national development in this 21st century, a century of intelligence and high tech.
Ultimately, one of the things I would have appreciated when I was in high school by government which wasn’t done was that, I wanted to see a delegate from the ministry of education and/ or Ghana education service who will come round to solicit for ideas on ways and means of improving our educational system. After all, the youths are those who may suffer the consequences when any unfavorable policies are made (not to suggest our leaders design unfavorable policies),( but which category of people suffered the consequences in 2013, when the educational curriculum of the senior high school was changed from three to four years and from four to three years? Who suffered the consequences when two year groups needed to compete for admission into the same number of existing tertiary schools?) This could be done across the nation in most second cycle schools (if not all) on regional basis and such ideas put into a frame work which will be a basis for policy formulation. This may not be a onetime thing, it may demand time, but trust me, when done in a proper way, will also give hope for the future. I repeat, it will be far better than repeating old ways of doing things which are no more valid with regards to national development in this 21st century, a century of intelligence and high tech.
In conclusion, Ghana has gone far with regards to education, yet there is more room for improvement. Stakeholders in charge of education should be involved in decision making and more importantly our leaders need to tackle the challenges confronting our educational system without involving partisan politics. I believe when this is done and the necessary solutions put in place, the educational system will be able to train individuals with skills readily needed to drive our nation, Ghana – a ‘Ghana beyond Aid’.
Daniel Odoi © 2018
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