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Education Has No Political Party Colour And Must Be Seen As Such

By Huzeima Mahamadu
Opinion Education Has No Political Party Colour And Must Be Seen As Such
AUG 2, 2018 LISTEN

Education is generally accepted and recognized as the key to development of any country. For this reason, leaders around the globe have prioritized education through different policies and programmes, to give their citizens the best education possible. Ghana over the years has implemented policies like the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE), Free Senior High School and subsidies in Tertiary education, etc. to help make education accessible and affordable to all, which is commendable. Also, our tertiary education is enviable by some African countries due to its stability and academic excellence as compared to other countries. However, same cannot be said about our secondary education.

The government of Ghana has politicized secondary education over the years through the constant change in policies from three years to four and back to three years. Now there is free SHS and double track system. Secondary education requires stable and sustainable policies that can thrive for decades without major yearly reforms and changes which disrupt students, parents and teachers lives. Free SHS as implemented by the Ghana government is commendable and I must congratulate Nana Addo, the president and his team. It is not easy to shoulder such a great responsibility within the shortest possible time. Many Ghanaians are poor and therefore could not easily afford secondary education which you recognized as a need and found a solution to solve by introducing free SHS. However, as someone who also has Ghana at heart and particularly have interest in the development of Ghana education system, I do have some concerns and suggestions to help improve the system.

In my opinion, it looks like Secondary education in Ghana has not been taken seriously by the government of Ghana over the past decades considering the many impromptu reforms and changes the cycle has been put through. I met a 3 years SHS system which changed to 4 years and affected my immediate juniors in school, I must admit the outcome was quite good as a lot of passes were recorded, and suddenly, it was changed back to 3 years again. Now we are introducing double track system into our secondary education within a year of implementing Free SHS. Too much change within a short period!! The need for double track system aroused because we did not do enough research and consultation on the free SHS before its implementation. Every stakeholder in the educational sector should have been invited and involved at each stage of the formulation and implementation process. The resources and stakeholders required to make it a success should have been explored and brought on board to help make it so. At the initial implementation stages, private SHS complained bitterly because they were not considered in the free SHS implementation.

They have the infrastructure that can complement the public ones, which has inadequate infrastructure. All it requires was for government to negotiate with them and educate the public on the agreement made (government to provide subsidy and private institutions to ensure quality), then allow the public to choose to patronize private institutions or not through subsidy. The pressure on public institutions will have been reduced, double tack system may not have been necessary and workers at the private institutions will still have their jobs. But that was not done. Education has no party colour and therefore requires a long-term plan which should be followed by any government irrespective of their political opinion. It requires collective efforts. The double track system could have been avoided if the necessary research and consultation was carried out on the free SHS sustainability before its implementation. The government of Ghana cannot keep introducing policies and great changes to secondary education in Ghana every year. It looks like we are creating problems to solve problems. I will be happy if the students pass at the end of the day, which is all I want. Quantity has to go with quality otherwise the end will not be good.

Many Ghanaians are poor and the free SHS was a relief to them but it demands a lot of resources which we could have afforded as a country if we were selfless leaders and citizens. Everyone is responsible to the state to which Ghana is today, most of us are selfish and consume resources for many citizens alone. Where did we go wrong as a country? I have few questions I require answers from the Ministry of Education including; if the double track system is to solve the infrastructure and other problems from the free SHS, are we prepared to implement the double track system holistically so that we do not encounter other problems that will require change in policy next year to solve? Have we put in place a system to ensure these students pass their final exams? Can the tertiary institutions accommodate all of them if they all make it? What alternatives do we have for those who may not make it? if the answer is no to all these questions, then we need to start thinking and working to curb the issues right away before it is too late. So what is the way forward?

We cannot keep playing with people lives. It is time we develop a Comprehensive Education Development Plan which will be able to sustain and improve our educational system for decades without major crises that will demand major reforms and changes. I know that in some of the universities in Ghana, we have a system where every student has an academic tutor responsible for advising the students on their performance and encouraging them to do better. Though not effective but it is something we can adopt in our basic and secondary institutions. At the basic level, a number of students should be given to each teacher to groom and identify the students’ talents and passion. If a particular student is crafty and artistic or interested in technical/vocational or in any particular field, then the student together with the parents are advised accordingly. This means we need to develop and ensure our technical and vocational institutions are up to standards. Thus reducing the number of students who fail their exams because of lack of interest and passion and increase employment as those at the technical and vocational institutions can become self-employed after secondary education and be able to support their selves through tertiary education. Those interested in other fields like medicine, law, engineering, music, teaching, accounting, etc. are advised accordingly and they can start preparing towards it at the secondary level. This means students will have the passion and skill in their respective field and thus work accordingly without compromising their dignity. Those interested in the security system start right at the secondary level too as well, that means there should be established security and military schools as well. Sometimes we waste time studying things that are not useful to us instead of studying things that can help us develop as a country.

We need to revise our curriculums to include technical and practical issues instead of the theories and abstracts things we study. There are intelligent and talented people who have become school dropouts because they failed Mathematics, or English or Science. Are the questions related to things they actually need to work in the job market? How do we test people talents and intelligent? I know everyone has talents and passion, let us concentrate on identifying such things and making sure every Ghanaian finds the right way in life through education, instead of subjecting students to abstract things and politicizing the sector.

Research is necessary and we must learn to do it well as a country if we actually want to learn and benefit from it. I hope other stakeholders in education will get in touch for us to explore these ideas. It may take ages to materialize, as every opportunity will have to be explored. But the end result will be worth it.

Huzeima Mahamadu (A citizen)
[email protected]

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