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02.06.2012 Feature Article

HOW THE NORTHERN CONFLICTS WOULD AFFECT THE STUDENTS AT THE NORTH

HOW THE NORTHERN CONFLICTS WOULD AFFECT THE STUDENTS AT THE NORTH
02.06.2012 LISTEN

The basic education certificate examination (BECE) and the West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) are over and students once again are expected to produce good results for what they have learnt over the past years. This will determine their entry into the second cycle institutions and into the universities.

However, not all of the students wrote the examination due to certain factors which could either be pregnancy or sickness or the death of a student and many more but the unfortunate twist or turn to their success or failure is when the said problem does not emanate from the students but from their elders of which they know nothing about.

It is always a normal routine for students to hear a stop work for the very final paper just for them to begin shouting and chanting apparent triumphant songs and also wait anxiously for the day on which their results slips would be released just to confirm their suspicion or contentment and so it was last year when the students part-took in the year's examination and were waiting anxiously to take hold of their result slips with smiles but as it's always the case, some students would receive their results with unhappy looks while others would be jumping as high as they could reach the skies.

Little would be seen of friends who out of their excessive jubilation could take time to console their colleagues who were not able to make it, but the big question is, who would console who should all of them fail. It could only be likened to the Bible days when the last plague paved way for EXODUS for the Israelites, that is; the death of both the first born child of the Egyptians and their livestock that brought so much wailing on the Egyptian land.

The two historical wars of the world between 1914 to 1918 and 1939 to 1945 respectively recorded countless number of dead people and left many homeless and jobless, displaced a lot of people, and left many others with different kinds of diseases and sicknesses. Records have it that places that experienced bomb blasts cannot support any agricultural production even in this 21st century. Some descendants of the victims who survived after these wars still have certain biological disorder in their bodies. Germany today cannot boast of good drinking water because of the war. Water they say is life and is also tasteless but water in Germany has an unusual taste.

This is to talk of some physical aspect of those past events but to talk of the psychological aspect is to direct it to the happenings in northern parts of the country. War torn countries in Africa over the years have given a connotative meaning to the African continent to the extent that at the mention of the name “Africa”, what comes to mind is violence, brutality, wickedness and all the negatives one could think of. One should paint a mental picture of how he or she would feel when addressed with these unfriendly words. The feeling is as equal as the psychological trauma the youth, children and students of the north are facing as a result of the conflict of which they know not its origin.

It is normal that in every race, there is the first and there is the last. However, to be first or last is dependent on better planning, good preparation, peaceful and friendly environment and a sound mind to learn. Current educational trends indicate that a pleasant and congenial teaching environment is just as important factor the human and teaching resource basis of an institution. Frankly, our fellow students at the north under these conflicts situation lack all these.

Under examination condition, there is always the fear of coming into contact with the paper, this is what one Mr. Samuel Yawson who is a clinical psychologist, said in a short interview when he spoke to Mr. Kwame Sefa Kayi on “kokrokoo” on Peace FM some time ago. He further added that there is what we call an examination anxiety and every student goes through it. It is normal that every student would have this kind of feeling but in a day or two they begin to calm down. The issue of examination anxiety coupled with the conflicts at the north put the students in an unfortunate situation that would affect their delivery as they write, most especially when they were conveyed in buses to the examination centers under police guard and guidance just last year.

Now, the excitement of having completed “school” in itself is enough joy to forget about the lots of pain one passed through when he or she was in school. However, time and tide they say waits for no man. That is to suppose that time is no respecter of persons and the excitement of these our young brothers and sisters would soon be short lived in about a month to the release of the BECE and the WASSCE results. Students would begin to reflect on what they wrote during the exams time and they begin to wonder if they would be going to the SHS and the universities.

In an interview with Mr. Kwame Sefa Kayi on Peace FM, on 19th April, 2011 Mr. Abdullah Musa, the Bawku District Chief Executive, said, the conflict as it is known to everyone is as a result of chieftaincy issues. When the DCE was asked how the students are going to write the examination, his response to all the questions were that of sadness and utmost despair. The big question now is; should the people of the north continue to fight just because of who to serve and who to rule?

Change doesn't come all of a sudden but it takes time. Our people in at the north should learn to tolerate one another and see themselves as one. We are one people with a common destiny and there is the need for all of us to fight it together. The best advice I can only give to our brothers and sisters at the north is that they should rather fight hatred, anger, provocation, malice, covetousness, violence, brutality, and all the others that do not make life worth living and overcome them. Our brothers and sisters at the north should themselves be the change we all expect to happen for a peaceful environment without which the students would continue to be affected.

The Writer: Emmanuel Amoquandoh.
The writer is the Founder of Pattern and Pattern and a reporter for the Herald Newspaper.

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