Ghana’s Position In Global Education Rankings: Dr Nduom Exonerated

I don’t think anyone can dance YENTIOBIAA to this damaging ranking, we should rather be saying YEBETIE NDUOM (We will listen to Nduom)...OYIWA....”which means i told you so”.. Dr Nduom, WO Bo) Niee (an akan proverb meaning You said it right)..These are the expressions running through my mind as i read the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) findings ranking Ghana the last amongst 76 countries in the biggest ever global school survey.

The progressive peoples party and its leader Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, has been mourning over the country’s poor ranking in a recent global school survey. The West African country was at the bottom out of 76 countries ranked globally by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Singapore topped the list. The survey “has gone to reaffirm the point consistently made by the PPP, that there is a basic link between investment in education and the growth in the economy.

As the report stresses, ‘poor education policies and practices leave many countries in what amounts to a permanent state of economic recession.’” Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom is convinced the governing NDC has failed to implement the constitutional obligation of providing Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) to the citizenry and out of political convenience has rather sought to compound the problem with a promise to implement a free Senior High School policy.

The PPP in demonstrating its commitment to ensure improvement in the educational sector dragged the government to the Supreme Court, seeking seven reliefs, including a declaration on the true and proper interpretation of the 12 year period within which the FCUBE programme would have been fully implemented. Article 25 of the 1992 Constitution stipulates; (1) "All persons shall have the right to equal educational opportunities and facilities and with a view to achieving the full realisation of that right -

(a) basic education shall be free, compulsory and available to all;

(b) Secondary education in its different forms, including technical and vocational education, shall be made generally available and accessible to all by every appropriate means, and in particular, by the progressive introduction of free education."

The Constitution gave a 12 year period (1993-2005) within which FCUBE would have been executed.

The PPP is convinced successive governments have failed to honour the dictates of the constitution. The party is therefore seeking to have government compelled by the court to ensure that every child enjoys free basic education. Ghana coming in last on this global last is not unexpected, because investment in education has slumped under President John Mahama and standards are feared to even fall further this year. The Progressive people’s party and especially its leader, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom sees the lifeline in this report, most importantly the recommendation made.

The education minister in responding to this is quoted in her statement that, “We have also noted from the press highlights of the research that only 76 countries out of over` 195 countries in the world were considered for this research. It therefore cannot be said that Ghana’s educational system is the worst globally as has been circulated by sections of the Ghanaian media.

Additionally, Ghana is one of only five African countries that feature in this ranking. It will be interesting to explore how these five African countries thus Ghana, South Africa, Botswana, Morocco and Tunisia made it to these rankings. Are we perhaps being told that these are the best performing nations in Africa? What other interpretations exist to justify the inclusion or selection of these African nations and indeed of the entire 76 nation sample frame?

Come on Madam Professor Minister, my response to this is, IF WE COMPARE OURSELVES WITH DWARFS, WE WILL ALWAYS THINK WE ARE TALL”. We should rather look at it from the angle that, we have been compared with the great, and we are not doing well and hence must up our game, instead of tickling ourselves and laughing at the same time with the above SPIN.

According to the findings, “If Ghana, the lowest ranked country, achieved basic skills for all its 15-year-olds, the report says that it would expand its current GDP by 38 times, over the lifetime of today's young people.” “This justifies the message that our Presidential Candidate, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, has been constantly trumpeting that “no Ghanaian child should be denied free basic education, progressively to the secondary level”.

Pre Papa Preko.....PPP AWAKE
WRITTEN BY
ALFRED A. KWABENA OCANSEY (HONORIS CAUSA)