The Cover Of Our Exercise Books

We all want what’s best for our wards and like the Army commercial, we want them to be all they can be.

Most parents in Ghana now will prefer their wards in private schools because the notion is that these children do better than their counterparts in the public schools.

By observation, I have trembled at what our children in the early stages in our educational system get to see even before they open the books. Have you seen a picture of a great Ghanaian scientist on the cover pages of our writing and drawing books?

What we do not realise is, pictures tell stories. They are much more than illustrations on a page. They play a critical role in learning, helping students develop self-awareness and teaching them how to make inferences, among other things.

Long before children can even read they respond to images in an effort to place themselves and others in their lives into they world around them. Children learn from concrete to abstract.

Now, are we doing the right thing flooding the minds of our young chaps with images of footballers and “celebreties” who in most cases do not go through our educational. How else does a child grow to appreciate science and maths whilst having to see photos of Indian soap operas, telenovelas from Mexico and the Philippines of their actors and actresses throughout the early stages of life? The cover of our exercise books as a nation speaks volumes. Where are our psychologists? Who monitors our national thinking patterns? We have to straighten the branches of these trees before they become timbers.

Check the cover pages of the next 10 children you meet from here on and judge for yourself.

Thanks for reading.