It Is About Time We Changed Our Educational System. It Lacks Practicality

Our educational system seriously needs to be overhauled immediately to save our future generation from suffering what we are going through now. I think there is everything wrong with the way we are taught right from day one up to the PhD level. In what country do we have Agric engineers, yet we import the most common foodstuffs like rice, onions, pepper, maize, etc. and even chicken and fish products? In what country do we have hardworking farmers whose farms' produce are left to rot and the same produce are imported by the government at the expense of the taxpayers? Aren't we jokers in this country? And what is the use of our engineers who can't assemble even an ordinary push track in this country?

What is it that we want to teach our children that will help improve our society in the future? Take agriculture for instance. Our children have been taught Agricultural Science for ages. Many of these students can't demonstrate with enough practical knowledge how photosynthesis works in plants. They can, however, chant loudly in classrooms what photosynthesis is. Is that what we want as a country? This balderdash method of learning the same old materials and answering the same old questions can't and won't help us in our developmental agenda as a country. There must be a change in the way we teach and learn in our schools. And this must start from the JHS to the university level. Let's do more practical stuff and less theory in our schools if only we want to develop as a country.

There are a lot of countries that have been able to determine what they need and prepare the minds of their students towards just that. And once they learn it in the books, the teachers make sure these children put it into practice by demonstrating how everything works. Gone are the days when we used to have demonstration farms and gardens at almost all the levels in our schools. I remember we had both a farm and a garden in both my primary and JSS respectively and practical lessons were taught in the garden and farms. We learnt a lot on the field and it made more sense to us than just singing these topics in class and reproducing what we have been taught during exams. Many schools that are called technical schools have no single production material to use for practicals and we call them technical schools. We also have agric schools scattered all over the country yet, they have no demonstration farms, where the students can be taken through certain practical lessons. What at all do we want to learn?

Governments upon governments keep paying lip services by saying agriculture is the backbone of our development. But what have the past governments and the current government done to boost the agric sector? Is it the yearly nepotism, favouritism, and bias picking of the political best farmers, who we waste state resources to build houses for or the cutlasses and other cheap farm inputs we give to them? Our farmers must be taken seriously in this country. What I hate to hear is every politician trying to convince the youth to go into farming. What support do the governments give to our poor farmers that will encourage the youth to go into it? If it's any good venture, why are teachers, doctors, engineers, technocrats, etc. all running away from their various sectors to politics and not farming?

We have to take a look again at the way we teach in our schools if we need to develop as a country. We must teach less of the theory and more of the practical lessons. I don't even know who to blame now. But it looks as if both the governments and our educationists are together confused and don't know what we need in our educational system. Certain educational policies are just complete trash and must be scrapped immediately from the books to allow room for more innovative and practical skills-based ones to be introduced. What is even more pathetic is the fact that in this 21st century, many of our students are still seen lying on the floor while learning or sitting under trees and dilapidated death trap structures to learn. How can that be?

Politicising our education is the last thing that must happen in this country. The repercussions of such a move are dicey. Look at what we have gotten ourselves into now! We are mass-producing graduates from our universities, who only have book knowledge but can't implement any practical knowledge they have learnt in school. That's why everyone wants to be employed by the government. If indeed, these graduates were taught anything better, they would have gone ahead to put their knowledge into use by creating self-employment through their innovations and practical skills they might have acquired in the universities. Our educational system is gradually becoming irrelevant. Also, though some have acquired this practical knowledge, the government isn't interested in supporting them.

Therefore, free education is not the solution to our problems in this country if you ask my opinion. The government is only wasting money on these students for nothing. What can they do after their free education? Even if many get into universities, they will still become jobless and unproductive as they will have no jobs to do. And instead of the government to be thinking of what the future will become, it's praising itself for doing nothing. It's nothing because the government's efforts will come to square one at the end of the day when these students complete and have no jobs to do and they can't also practice what they have been taught to earn a better living. The era of memorising theories and reproducing them during exams should be a thing of the past. Our colonial masters, who even introduced this method of teaching and learning have changed to follow a trend that allows for acquiring skills and practical experience that will help them to develop their society. So, why can't we change it?

Our educational system must be changed to allow for the students to be taught how to be innovative enough to put into practicality what they learn in school. This must start from the early stages and up to the higher level. We must choose what we want to be known for. If it's agriculture, engineering, science etc. But I think agric can take us far since we are already blessed with fertile land space to do large-scale agricultural activities. Let every child learn something about agric in school and can put that into proper use after any level at all. This will make even school dropouts make a better living with their practical knowledge. They will also support the government in creating jobs and making foodstuffs available for both local consumption and exporting.

The greedy politicians must be told the hard truth. That they should leave decisions about education to those who have the experience and knowledge to handle it. But if we sit aloof and allow them to roll out politically motivated policies for their parochial desires, then we are doomed. I'm not an economist, but I know any country that doesn't go into production and exportation will always be overburdened with borrowing just to pay salaries. That's what is going on in this country. Indeed, Nkrumah wanted the country to be an industrial hub that's why he foresaw the establishment of many industries and factories. But those with little or no idea came and collapsed all and sold many of these factories and industries to themselves. Political looting is another canker dwindling our fortune of development.

Ghanaians are watching!!!
Francis Angbabora Baaladong
A concerned citizen