How Politicians Underdeveloped Education In Ghana

Education leads to the total development of the individual. The importance of education cannot be overemphasised. An educated population generally contributes to the development of a nation, at least that is what we are told.

The quest to improve education is the dream of both developed and developing countries. This is sacrosanct. The approach to improving education however differs significantly from one country to another.

Whilst developed countries research and spend years and millions in educational development, the development of education in developing countries is a knee-jerk reaction left to the whims and caprices of politicians, who in most cases implement policies out of political convenience and fortune rather than critical thought.
This is the problem in Ghana.

It started with a useless political mantra of 'Free SHS'. A campaign promise which must be fulfilled at all cost by a political party.

Do not misunderstand me, I support free SHS,. In fact, in a country where people can barely afford two meals a day, it makes sense to help the citizens with free education. A combination of poverty and ignorance would be a double jeopardy.

My point however, is what research did the implementers of the free SHS policy undertook to design a suitable free SHS policy? None. What were the cost benefit analysis matrix that informed the decision? None. What resource evaluation were undertaken to show existing gaps and how to deal with them? None. What implementation strategies were put in place with bullet marks to success and failure? None. What challenges were identified at the piloting stage, if there was any pilot at all, to determine whether implementation should be gradual or accelerated? None. What timeliness were put in place to measure success? None. What were the critical success factors to determine the way forward? None.

The free SHS policy was borne out of a political mantra without thought. So it became move as you go with its attendant problems.

Educational policy requires expert knowledge, which politicians on their promising spree do not have. So we a policy that thinks of input and intake in schools without corresponding output. We implemented the policy because it appeals to the masses.

We are the masses; we shouted free education, and like our ignorant political leaders, we do not understand that whilst it sounds good to the ears, it has its pros and cons.

We now complain about the food our wards eat, the low quality of teaching, blaming everyone except ourselves. Do we not forsee that the availability of facilities to accommodate our political mantra of a policy would be a problem? That is lack of foresight and that is what happens when we allow politicians instead of experts to design educational policy.

The question most stakeholders like the mushroom civil society organisations refuse to ask is the welfare of the teacher. Government pay teachers peanuts and expect magic to please anxious parents.

Teachers are forced to work under inhumane conditions with threat of sanctions from a management that lack both focus and foresight.

Instead of bringing the challenges to the notice of the politicians who they are afraid of for their positions, they vest their anger on innocent teachers who are barely trying to survive.

They claim teachers are too many to be paid well yet the money in the state coffers is never insufficient for the politicians to steal. So they teach as they can and ignore what they cannot, continually underdeveloping education.

Then there is the issue of unemployment and the lack of opportunities after school. Whilst our school system emphasises 'work for government after school' and shelves entrepreneurial skill development, the government payroll is chocked and we often take loans to pay workers.

We are now producing smart thieves with undirected energy and churning out people who can speak English without intelligence. This is how we are underdeveloping education in Ghana.

Discipline is the hallmark of excellence and every individual and institution strives to attain discipline. In the Ghana Education Service, discipline is focused on teachers rather than learners, with the so called human right advocates standing on the fence, only to grant media interviews when a student is punished.

We are breeding immoral students with no values in the name of human rights. Our students no longer know how to greet, neither do they understand respect. This is how we underdeveloped education in Ghana.

It cannot be that politicians by dint of winning elections become more intelligent than the millions of citizenss they lead. Most of them, when you listen to them carefully lack the skills for the positions they occupy, yet they come on screens daily to vex our ears.

We must realise that even animals do not allow a fool to lead the pack . It seems that it is only humans who allow fools to lead them.

Time to rise up against those who continually sabotage our system.