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A Matter Of Quality, And Cameron Duodu’s Complaint

Feature Article Cameron Duodu
SEP 23, 2017 LISTEN
Cameron Duodu

Today being the last working day of the week which saw the roll-out of the much-anticipated Free Senior High School policy, hopefully most of the initial challenges of the ruling New Patriotic Party’s flagship would have been identified and are being speedily corrected.

Coincidentally this period has seen the observance of the 2017 World Literacy Day, marked exactly a week ago, on September 8.

Literacy being the basis of formal education, the expansion of access through the Free SHS, undoubtedly also highlights the need to improve the quality of education at all levels. Significantly, at the ceremony on Tuesday to launch the historic Free SHS initiative, President Nana Akufo-Addo emphasized that “a key component is quality”, not only for students but also for teacher training.

Certainly what exists at present, with regard to quality, evidently gives cause for concern, even with professional education, including the training of journalists. And if there are question marks about the quality of the training of the professionals supposed to be at the forefront of information delivery, then there is a serious problem for the nation.

How can uninformed journalists hope to educate others? This is the concern renowned journalist and columnist, Cameron Duodu, had to impress upon some student journalists he came across recently.

Writing in his Daily Guide column last Saturday, Mr Duodu’s complaint was about the suitability of such candidates for the journalism profession. Incidentally, Mr Duodu is also a columnist of the Ghanaian Times – and actually has been for more than 10 years.

He wrote that he happened to be at the Press Centre, in Accra, and got into conversation with some of the students from the nearby Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ).

“(They) had come to sit near me and out of curiosity, I began to chat to them. As someone who once taught ‘Creative Writing’ (there) … I was keen to find out what sort of human material the Institute was producing these days. So I introduced myself to them by name. ‘Has any of you ever heard that name before?’ I asked.

“They all looked blankly at me.
“I was incredulous. I asked, ‘You are student journalists and you have never heard of someone whose columns appear in your newspapers twice a week?’ They still looked blankly at me … I moved on quickly for the implications of what I was discovering were unpleasant … All that work one does is not relevant to the courses being taught these youngsters?

“I asked a general question: ‘So what is the biggest story in Ghana today, as covered in the newspapers and the radio stations?’

“They hadn’t read the day’s newspapers. Nor had they watched TV news or listened to the radio. And they were studying to become journalists!” Mr Duodu lamented.

Mr Duodu had some advice for the GIJ students: “The first thing you need to have, if you want to become a journalist, is a sense of curiosity. Yet you have not read today’s newspapers. That suggests that you are not curious about what goes on in your own country!

“Listen, as a journalist, you must instinctively feel a strong need to know what’s happening in your country, your continent and the world …. Before you came to school today, you should have listened to the radio. And as soon as you got to school, you should have gone to the library to glance through the newspapers of the day (if available).

“If that …. does not become habitual with you, then I am afraid you will never become a journalist, let alone a good one ….” Mr Duodu told them.

Much has been said and written about the decline of the culture of reading in this country. Clearly, once they leave school, many people never pick up any reading material, unless it is work-related.

For them reading for leisure, for example the world literature classics, is totally out. Yet, it is that kind of reading that broadens one’s horizon, not to mention improvement of one’s vocabulary.

I still recall what a university lecturer once told me, about his consternation when he discovered that out of a class of about 300, only about five had read Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist and Great Expectations – which I wrote about in a 2013 column.

Part of that article read:
“Recently, my ward in a reputed public Junior High School brought home a letter from the school addressed to parents and guardians. This is what it said:

Dear Parent/Guardian,
CARLOS SERVICE CELEBRATION
We are very grateful for your continuous support, we have enjoyed during our annual Carlos Service Celebrations.

This year our school has been selected to take part in the activities,

We are therefore appealing to you to support us to make the Carlos Service very successful ….

“The letter was signed by the Parent Teacher Association Secretary.

“Initially, I was somewhat mystified. Who was ‘Carlos’ and what connection did he have with the school which required them to organise a celebration for him?

“Then it dawned on me that as it is just one month before Christmas, the letter was not about a person named Carlos, but rather it was a letter about a CAROLS Service!

“The word ‘Carlos’ is used three times in the short letter … so the writer clearly had no idea that CARLOS and CAROLS are different words and very far apart in meaning and usage!” (About Carlos and Oliver Twist’, column of November 16, 2013.)

Anyway, back to Mr Duodu’s concern. I think he would be interested to learn about my equally revealing recent GIJ experience, also at the Press Centre.

After a function at the Centre, during which I had spoken, some young men came up to me and introduced themselves as GIJ students.

One of them was insistent, pleading that he wanted to take a ‘selfie’ with me. When I asked him why he wanted to take a photo with me, his answer was: “Madam, because you’re a famous journalist and I’m so happy to meet you” – or words to that effect.

“How do you know that I’m famous?” I asked. “Do you even know my name?”

“Oh yes, madam,” came his confident response. “You’re Ama Ata Aidoo.”

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