NDC Proforum condemns obnoxious textbooks in basic schools

The NDC Professionals Forum – North America, condemns in no uncertain terms the inappropriate ethnocentric textbooks which seek to misinform Ghana’s future generation and denigrate some groups of people in the country.

The content of the books in the public domain and being used in some basic schools across the country distastefully depicts some tribes as inward-looking and primitive.

As a nation, we should be mindful that ethnocentrism in today’s world is a recipe for civil strife and call on the appropriate authority to sanction the villains behind the apparent attack on the homogeny of Ghana.

The Proforum-North America further wish to reiterate that, the type of educational curricula Ghana needs and for which it is pursued the world over is to offer the youths a shared universal education that aids them to discover and advance interests, a capacity for reasoning, and critical thinking.

Some countries additionally promote nation-building using school curricula as a means of infusing a moral sense and an appeal to sensitivity, while promoting the individual achievement in harmony with the values of national unity. It is unfortunate that Ghana’s educational system would be used to smear ‘Voltarians’ in Ghana. Coincidentally, this came at a time a ‘voltarian’ and legal luminary, Lawyer Tsatsu Tsikata has hit the spotlights once again, to become a mentor and source of motivation for young ones aspiring to become lawyers.

We therefore by this statement, urge the government to put premium on harnessing the potential of every Ghanaian irrespective of ethnicity. Our self-identity as Ghanaians should be paramount rather than fueling tribal divisions.

We further implore parents to be vigilant and look out for contents in their ward’s textbooks and other study materials which seek to threaten national solidarity.

The current situation affirms that Ghana’s educational system is being manipulated and compromised with the mere thoughts and believes of others on tribal lines and that people at the helm of affairs are not fit for the job. In the current competitive world science, technology, engineering, and mathematics are the order of the day.

The Minister of Education should bear the full blame for not putting the right checks in place before the disputed study materials found their way to the classrooms. The educational system has been polarized and sordid so much so that it took social media to expose such obnoxious educational content.

The NDC Proforum-North America as forward-looking Ghanaians in the diaspora, deem the statements in the textbook as backward and divisive and not what the country needs. As social democrats, we will continue to pursue advocacy for human resource development and social cohesion to build to improve lives.

“Hail to thy name, O Ghana, to thee we make our solemn vow: steadfast to build together a nation strong in unity.”

Signed

Arnold Appiah

President