Let’s Remove The Educational Impediments

I was lit with joy when a friend told me about a sixteen-year-old graduate; who had a car to herself, work, and a life of her own. Joshua Beckford, who recently visited Nigeria, is also a fourteen-year-old graduate from Oxford University. These testimonies are welcoming news which could inspire any student.

As far back as 1528, the great reformer, John Calvin was only eighteen years old, when he received a Master of Arts degree, and a doctorate in law by age twenty-three.These testimonies about how easy education could be, and a hope for the future have served to fuel my passion to write this article.

On the dark side, most people in this part of the world still hold some flimsy, and colloquial ideas about people graduating from the university at age fourteen. Some people have the idea that they skipped classes or grades. And for most, their unsubstantiated worry is an apprehension about the abilities such young brilliant minds are endowed with. They are most concerned about what such “young” people could not offer the world of work, without proof.

Contrary to those dogmas, it is both scientifically and historically proven that young people tend to be more adventurous and creative than the old. It is true that age counts for experience, but youthfulness counts for creativity. The younger a person is, the more creative he/she is with work. Though not as efficient initially, young people tend to learn faster, and become most productive at opportunities and work.

However, the education practices in Ghana and most African countries has done much injustice to our youth in realization of their dreams. Schools and educational authorities do everything possible under the sun to keep our young people in school for long; and waste their creative brain trying to force certain colloquial, irrelevant ideas into their heads.

Can you imagine that students are “repeated classes” just because they obtain poor grades in some subjects? How insensible! When a student scores a low grade in one subject, at the same time he or she would have also scored higher grades in other subjects. These two subjects are only there to show us what such a student’s strengths and weaknesses are. And we do them absolutely no good repeating them. We should rather help them build on their strengths. That is not to say we turn a blind eye to their weak areas, but help them, not delay them.

Another senseless practice is to demand student graduates to re-sit papers which are their weaknesses, which they have done just as well to “pass” in. When students obtain grades D7 or E8, they have not failed; but our educational institutions treat them as though they have failed, and demand that they rewrite such papers. By doing so, we waste their brains and time. We waste YEARS of people’s life even when they have passed well enough. They are denied the opportunity to work or join the security services to serve their countries and contribute to growth. More so, they are denied entry into universities and other tertiary institutions to further their education.

I could find none, but maybe you will. What is the common sense in forcing students to repeat classes or re-sit papers they have weaknesses in (to rewrite them)? Though this might have been the practice in times past, but in reality, it lacks reasonable justification and common sense. It is absolutely nonsense!

Even worse, we are beginning to see massive deliberate failure of students not on the basis of none performance, but just for political interest. I do not know what work we want citizens who have invested years of their lives and huge sums to study – to do, after deliberating disqualifying them, just to meet certain unreasonable quota which satisfies someone’s selfishness. If the abundance of water in the sea has never reduced its quality, but lessen its price, should we not encourage many young people to join the Law Profession or any other for that matter? The policy to deliberately waste the lives of young graduates is not in our national interest, and lacks even common sense.

We waste much labour, creative minds, repeating students, demanding them to re-sit passed papers, deliberately failing them or establishing unreasonable quota of employable people into professions. What is the common sense in forcing people to get A1 in a subject, which even we as a nation we have no use for? What benefit does our dear motherland get from forcing students to obtain papers, certificates so called, or some form of needless mental knowledge (which has no bearing or significance on life and work?

If we can make a sober reflection, by stopping to think about our actions, we shall see this scripture true in our lives: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9) Many of our so called policies are baseless, selfish ideologies which lack common sense and are impediments in the ways of our own people. I bet you, this is not a political message – for I long to see even the scraping off of re-sit or remedial (popularly called “Nov-Dec”) for young people who have obtained passes (grades D7 and E8), which is good enough, and graded by WAEC as “pass” (not a “fail”). Let us offer our young ones the unhindered opportunity to continue their education and career. This will empower them contribute their creativity to national development.

A second look at the Cut-off Grade for Admission into Tertiary Institutions

The Focus of Education in Ghana

Rich Akpalu

Author of the book “God in Me.”