Open Letter To Education Directors, Nanumba North And South Districts

I write to you Sirs about the worrying trend of education in your respective districts. Before anything, many are witnesses to your hard work and commitment in ensuring that standards of education in the Nanumba North and South districts are maintained. Unfortunately, a number of issues are not right and that have caused a nosedive as far as quality education is concern.

To start with, the competitive spirit of students in the Nanumba districts has miraculously disappeared in recent times. In the past, every Friday was dedicated to either quiz competition or drama. This was done either among students in the same school or schools were made to compete among themselves. Sirs, this created a healthy competition among students particularly in the basic schools. This eventually made copying in all forms of examination illegal. Ironically, the availability of teachers then as against today was nothing to ride home about. With the increased numbers of trained teachers, one would expect to see the bar being raised high. Sadly, students at the basic levels are now gods due to the blind importation of policies by the state.

Today, wholesale promotion is the order of the day. Students are promoted without reference to performance. It is significant to note that examinations are meant to select students to the next grade of the academic ladder base on merit. You may argue that mass promotion of students is a national policy, which I totally agree with you. However, even in the management of Ghana's economy we have home grown solutions. The Nanumba districts can also have home grown solutions in ensuring quality education. You will not be missing words if you treat this piece of writing as commentary by a frustrated person. Why? Years ago, students from the Nanumba districts were noted for their academic prowess. Those who had the opportunity to continue senior secondary education outside home were heard off, though without the needed materials at the basic level. The situation has drastically changed today; with almost all junior high schools for example, given ICT laboratories with enough trained teachers in the schools. But standards unfortunately are now down. Students know that come what may, they would be promoted.

An important aspect of the challenge is what transpires between teachers and students in the classroom. It is one thing being in the classroom and doing the right thing as another. When I was a student in the primary and JSS schools, something caught my attention. Officers always came round to monitor our teachers. This contributed immensely to teaching and learning. We do not see this in 'modern' Ghana. Surprisingly, there is monitoring unit and an Assistant Director in charge on monitoring and supervision in all the education offices. Why are our teachers not been monitored? It is mind boggling to see a student in the senior high school not been able to read and to construct simple sentences. How did such a student pass the B.E.C.E? Closely linked to this issue is the role of parents. It is very common to hear from some teachers that 'parents value their cattle more than their wards in school'. This is to demonstrate the level of irresponsibility of parents. Some parents have no ideal regarding their wards education. Supervising the children after school is never paramount to them.

Sirs, it appears heads of schools and directors are interested in their schools and districts' positions on the league table. Yes, it is never a bad idea to have your district placed first on the league table. But of what value will it have if you produce four-hundred candidates for instance and not even ten per cent of the number goes through senior high school successfully? Sirs, the face value of the figures produced each year especially at the B.E.C.E is illusory. Many of the students face knock out due to poor academic performance. And those who survive in most cases only manage with weak grades. It was alleged that some Headmasters, particularly in the Tamale Metropolis, threatened not to admit students from the two districts. The hurdles that parents and students faced in the past should still ring in our ears. If the West Africa Examination Council derecognizes the Bimbilla Senior High School and Wulensi Senior High School centres again, the simple fact is that these schools would go down. This may be embarrassing to the districts.

Ethnic conflicts and chieftaincy disputes have taken Nanumba North and South districts aback as we have become companions of under development. Results at the WASSCE revealed that the Nanumba North and South districts, technically, chain out uniform students. However, the only thing that can give us hope is education and we must jealously safeguard it.

Zuberu Aliu
[email protected]