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14.05.2009 NPP

NDC, NPP, toying with the future of the youth

14.05.2009 LISTEN
By The Statesman

An educationist and a Dean of School of Creative Arts, University of Education, Winneba, Professor Emmanuel James Flolu, has taken the Government to the cleaners, saying neither the New Patriotic Party of the National Democratic Congress has a right to toy with the future of the youth of Ghana.

He has also expressed concerns that the two leading political parties in Ghana, the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress may be toying with the future of the younger generation and those yet to be born.

According to him, it appears that the NDC and the NPP are at war, struggling to take credit for authorship of Ghana's educational system. As a result, he lamented, enough care is not being taken to address the immediate challenges and to assess the long term effects before decisions are taken.

Delivering a presentation at a one-day educational forum at the British Council in Accra yesterday, he described that a dangerous trend in our educational system, if political parties' ambition and desire to be acknowledged for their educational decisions results in tinkering with the educational system for the sake of political glory and pride.

In his view, such trend is likely to culminate in an educational suicide for the nation, if it goes unchecked.

He therefore stressed that the issue as regards whether SHS should be three of four years is a very trivial matter, adding that recommendation of the President's Committee to retain the three years still remains contentious.

In his view, Government should have allowed the four years to run, so that at the end of the day, they will assess the negative and the positive outcomes of it to allow informed decisions to be taken. According to him, if they had not rushed and proper processes and procedures were taken, these controversies wouldn't have cropped up.

 "By virtue of the fact that we voted for them does not mean or shouldn't push them to think that they are more knowledgeable than us…and the four years that they have at their disposal do not give them the power to do anything they want within a short time, just because of their political ambition,”he stated. 

As a result of this change, he pointed out, the students have become imbalanced and their parents have also become apprehensive, because they don't know where the future of their children lies.

Elaborating further in his presentation on the topic 'Previous Attempts at Reviewing Ghana's Education System: Lessons Learnt,' Prof Flolu explained that the Dzobo Report of 1972 recommended a four-year SSS.

He said therefore it can be assumed that the Government's decision as contained in the 2004 White Paper on the Anamuah-Mensah Report to extend the SHS to four years was not an innovation of the then NPP regime.

Rather, he said, it was consistent with the original proposal contained in the Dzobo Report, which informed the 1987 Reforms launched by the previous PNDC regime.

However, he stated that, it was not because the Dzobo Committee recommended the 4-year which makes the NPP decision right; neither is the 3-year duration right just because the Anamua-Mensah Committee recommendation supports it which by implication agrees with the 1987 reforms launched by the PNDC.

Mr. Flolu therefore said, if politicians do not desist from taking the kind of stance which creates mixed feelings, the public as well as the international communities will lose respect and confidence in our education system, adding, they should think about the scientific and emotional aspects of it when taking such decisions and not only the political or religious part of it.

“Our search for sustainable, affordable and recognized education system,” he outlined, “should not be taken as a draught game where a winner is to emerge,” pointing out that the nation's priority now should be to develop a holistic, dynamic education system with high quality, which should be internationally credible and competitive.

The forum was organized by Citi Fm, under the theme, “Charting a Path for the 21st Century-Ghana's Education Response.”

It drew the attention of many stakeholders and speakers like Dr. Patrick Awuah, Prof JS Djangmah and several others.

According to the event organizer of Citi Fm, Shamima Muslim, the forum was organized in view of the immediate change in the educational reform a few months ago, which have generated a lot of controversies and debate in town. She said the outcome of the forum will be presented to the Minister of Education for him to get an idea of what the public thinks about the change.

 

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