The NABCO Educational Programme

ONE of the most promising aspects of the introduction of the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) is the promise it holds out for improving life for young graduates, by offering them further training that will enable them to serve the nation in seven specified areas, or “modules”.

I was excited to find, on reading through the NABCO literature, that the modules include education. This is because a good education for a country’s people is the foundation of the progress it can make in so many other fields of life.

Good health, productivity in agricultural enterprises, amicable social relations, political maturity and other aspects of life that define the developmental level of a country, all start with education. Of course, there is no guarantee that a good education can make the citizen a patriotic, progressive individual. But the chances are that a good education can enhance the process more easily.

Now, almost everyone can find something to criticise about Ghana’s current educational system. Change upon change upon change has been inflicted upon it almost precipitately – so much so that it’s difficult, sometimes, to keep abreast of what the educational system actually offers. This has not been helped by name changes, some of which are unnecessary and seem to have been based on a desire to imitate the nomenclature used in other countries. Was it really necessary to have “jss”/”shs” instead of “elementary”/“secondary” school? School, when all that was needed was a change in the duration of the component elements of the school system?

Once, we had a very stable system – three years of elementary education, divided into 6 “junior school” classes and four “senior school” classes. At Standard Five in “senior school”, one “sat” the “Common Entrance” examination, and if one passed, one gained entrance into a secondary school.

Those who couldn’t go to a secondary school could go to a “teacher training college” (two years to earn a Teacher’s “Certificate B” and four years to earn a “Certificate A”.) There was also a two-year post-secondary teacher training course. All these stations on the educational journey built up one's personality and could ultimately put one on the step-ladder to achieving that most desirable objective – becoming a University graduate. As a graduate, one could enter the civil/public service as a “senior officer” or be recruited into a plum job by a private company. That’s where the road to the top opened for individuals, who had the aptitude to shine.

That straight road is now gone for good, replaced by a plethora of confusing qualifications and the expected entitlements that go with them. University graduates now earn 700 Cedis a month when they go into the obligatory National Service. Who decided that this sum could clothe, feed and accommodate a modern youngster in a world where inflation can rise by multiples of ten in a single year?

Much worse, nothing is certain any longer – a tertiary education certificate can still remain useless in one’s hands after National Service – for a newish social phenomenon has reared its ugly head, known as “graduate unemployment”.

The frustrations suffered by those affected by “graduate unemployment”, in particular, are beautifully captured by a columnist of the Daily Guidenewspaper, in his “Letter to Abusuapanyin” slot:

QUOTE: NABCO is Better Than Selling Stones And Grass!

“I WAS present at the passing out ceremony, but not as a [member of ] NABCO personnel. Indeed, I was in Salaga and had to cut my visit short to attend the… ceremony here in Accra. It was a spectacle to behold!I wanted to be present because I did not want to give [a] hearsay account. And I'm glad I did. The bright smiles and sheer ecstasy on the faces of the personnel were enough to tell me that NABCO was a welcome reprieve, even if [a] temporary [one].

“I spoke with a few after the programme and one could not help but notice how they exuded pure joy. Some told me how they had [had] to endure suffering as a result of being unemployed for years. Others too expressed joy because the days of being treated with disdain were over. Many of them shed tears as they poured out their hearts to me. The kind of tears that express relief and freedom from bondage. I couldn't help shedding tears too.

“It reminded me of my own story;... of the days I walked under the scorching sun... drenched in sweat, seeking non-existent jobs. After my National Service in the mid-1990's, I attended numerous interviews and wrote uncountable aptitude tests in the name of seeking a job. I even began to doubt my intellectual prowess… If there had been anything like NABCO, I wouldn't have hesitated to grab the opportunity. … I finally got a job after almost four years of searching.” UNQUOTE

The writer wasn’t too happy with the job he ultimately got because it was a teaching job and the pay attached to it was dismal. I hope the NABCO authorities will listen to their young charges, obtain a true and realistic picture of the financial burden facing them and enter into serious negotiations with the Ministry of Education, so as to stop the Ministry shooting itself in the foot by paying teachers so little that all the best minds eschew teaching. Certainly, the products of our current educational system are the worst advertisement for the system. Can you believe that a University graduate wrote this: “I have sendyou the email”?

To prevent those placed in the “education module” from spurning that opportunity because they know the post-training remuneration to be a pittance, the Ministry of Education should begin a realistic, if gradual, review of teachers’ salaries. To buttress the necessity for this vital change in attitude, let me quote to you, the reflections of a thoughtful Ghanaian professor who has been exposed to the educational system of some of the most advanced societies on the planet:

QUOTE: Do you realize that since the 1970s or earlier, almost none of our best and brightest has gone into teaching? I am not suggesting that all of us should. Far from it. My point is we do not see teaching as a noble and prestigious profession. And I don't mean university lecturers; I am referring to primary/JSS teachers. [That] is not the case in prosperous countries.

“For example, Finland has one of the best educational systems in the world. The competition for teacher-training slots is as intense, if not more intense, as the competition for getting into medical school. The Finnish educational system has been the subject of several studies by policy makers in the USA and other countries....Here are excerpts from a 2010 paper by the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education, Stanford University, USA. "Among young Finns, teaching is consistently the most admired profession in regular opinion polls of high school graduates. . .

“Becoming a PRIMARY SCHOOL teacher in Finland is a very competitive process, and only Finland’s best and brightest are able to fulfill those professional dreams. Every spring, thousands of high school graduates submit their applications to the Departments of Teacher Education in eight Finnish universities. Normally it’s not enough to complete high school and pass a rigorous matriculation examination; successful candidates must [also] have the highest scores and excellent interpersonal skills. Annually only about 1 in every 10 applicants will be accepted to study to become a teacher in Finnish PRIMARY SCHOOLS.

“…In Ghana, people typically go to teacher-training schools if they are from poor homes and/or did not do well in their O-level exams. [But] back in the colonial days, our parents and grandparents, who all attended public elementary/primary schools (now derisively called “cyto”)were taught by the British. The quality of their cytoeducation was very good not because their teachers were whites, but because some of these teachers were the best and brightest, or had above-average abilities, in British society [itself]. My grandfather used to say that his middle-school education (Standard 7) was better than my O-level education! UNQUOTE

These are eye-opening observations. The new opportunity provided by the NABCO experiment should be seized and used for a thorough self-examination. And we mustn't shrink from applying the remedies that the self-examination will yield. For we shall rue the day that we sleep-walked into building an educational system that's not fit for purpose; an educational system that makes us hold our noses when we are confronted with the output of some of the most “paper-qualified” citizens of the world.