The COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Implications on Education in Ghana

The COVID-19 pandemic has already permeated all sectors of our nation. Our borders; land, sea and airspace are closed and all international travels have been halted and this has greatly affected import and export and the vast Ghanaians who are into such business. Oil prices are plummeting to an all-time low and the government estimates economic losses of about 12 billion Ghana Cedis. Thousands have also been rendered jobless, increasing our already high unemployment rate.

The virus did not spare education in its havoc wrecking spree.

Education is a vital tool in the progress of every nation. It is through education that citizens of every nation can attain generally accepted knowledge, skill and attitude which will empower them to contribute their portion to the development of themselves and the nation in general. Therefore anything that touches education touches the core of the nation; hence the consequences of the novel coronavirus on our education (specifically basic and Senior High) should be carefully scrutinized to make it better.

There were already gaps in our education even before the COVID-19 pandemic; accessibility, truancy, infrastructure and financial background of learners among other things are examples of these gaps. The pandemic has the potential of widening the gaps if action is not taken.

All basic and senior high schools were shut down in accordance with the order of His Excellency the president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Sunday, March 15, 2020.

The need and speed of the closure afforded the handlers of education little time for planning on both the risk and potential opportunities.

Some implications of the pandemic on basic and Senior High education in Ghana have been assessed below:

Adopting Remote Learning
A lot of effort has gone into adopting remote learning strategies like online learning and National Television broadcasting.

The Ghana Education Service announced on March 30, 2020 that it had developed "an online study platform" for all senior high schools. As good as it is, there is however a wide digital inequality among students coming from different parts of the country. This can make the idea of online learning not achieve its intended purpose.

In Ghana, it is estimated that less than half of the population have internet access on their phones. It implies that many students do not have access to internet connectivity, smartphones, computers or even supportive parents to support them with data. These online platforms will only be available to learners from affluent homes with access to smartphones, tablets and computers, leaving out learners who do not have these technologies.

This will result in only the rich benefitting from whatever information the ministry of education places on the internet, thereby expanding the existing gap in opportunities between the poor and the rich. By the time school reopens, the poor who could not have access to internet could be lagging behind the rich who had internet and were able to study the materials. There are some learners who will never even be aware that something of this sort was created for their benefit.

Fortunately, the Ministry of Education on April 3, 2020 launched TV learning for senior high school students. State broadcaster GBC also begun airing TV lessons for primary and junior high schools on April 13, 2020 and radio learning has also been initiated to complement the online learning. It is appropriate to employ diverse means of taking learning to the homes of learners.

A challenge with this is the intermittent power cuts without prior notice and even if notified, learners might miss lessons if their lights are out at the time lessons are being aired.

How effective remote learning is can also be a challenge. Some learners will use the internet to do any other thing than learning. You might be deceived to think a learner is learning on the internet but he/she might be doing a different thing. Moreover, it is difficult to ask a learner to sit quietly and watch videos or read documents online without asking questions. The worst form of learning is passive listening without interaction.

Actively engaging students
Most learners in Junior and Senior high schools are teenagers and it is important to engage them academically while at home. This comes with a lot of difficulty as there are a lot of distractions at home; distractions from younger siblings, errands and chores and most particularly TV. The TV space is littered with plethora of telenovelas and TV series which can consume students the entire day.

Most learners see this period of ban as holidays and will therefore do what they do during holidays. A lot of learners will spend hours looking at smartphones or playing video games. Most learners only learn actively when school is in session after which their books are locked during vacations until school reopens.

While some parents with formal education can actively manage their children's learning, some farmers, traders and skilled workers will rather employ their children’s assistance instead of encouraging them to learn through the means provided by the ministry of education. And the learning gaps will undoubtedly widen between children from poorer and better-off homes.

The implications of this on education is that; when students are not engaged with academic activities for a long period of time, it can result in increase in dropout for students who are not motivated at home to pursue education. It will also take time for teachers to make learners ready psychologically for academic work after learners have stayed away for a long time.

The Role of Parents
Parents’ critical role in their children’s education which has always been extremely essential has never been more important. They are now expected to create the means and provide the needed support to sustain their children’s education while away from school. The onus lies on them to devise strategies to engage their ward in studying.

Now that learners are under the absolute care of parents, parental role is under the spotlight as they have to protect their children from unwanted pregnancies and bad habits such as use of illicit drugs. Parents must now understand that the shaping of their children’s character and learning should not be borne by teachers alone.

Are we going to have learners who because of lack of parental supervision got pregnant or were involved in usage of drugs because of peer influence during the pandemic?

Parents should explore ways to support their children’s learning by drawing on knowledge sources provided by the government. They should own their children’s education and make it a priority. They can also assist by drawing timetables with periods to learn, eat, have leisure and physical exercises. Parents can also give task and exercises to assess the learning progress of children. They should not take advantage of the times we are in and overburden learners with chores or hawking.

Writing of BECE and WASSCE
The West African Examinations Council organises yearly standardized test for junior high school students (Basic Education Certificate Examination, BECE) to progress into senior high schools, while West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), is the exam taken by senior high school students to get into tertiary institutions.

The closure of schools and suspension of examinations by WAEC has affected this year’s examinations, with Senior High School candidates who would have loved to buy university forms unable to do so.

Both final years in Junior High and Senior High school are in a state of suspense not knowing when they will write their final exams to continue with the next phase of their education. The Ghana Education Service is currently "in serious deliberations" with the West African Examinations Council about the conduct of the BECE but WASSCE is indefinitely suspended.

School Feeding Program
There are a lot of basic school children who depended heavily on the school feeding programme for their most nutritive meal of the day. The food given to basic school children were a great relief and support to some parents who could not afford a daily meal for their wards. This has been stopped because of the pandemic and all these learners are going to face the dire consequences of malnourishment. This will affect their cognitive development and well-being.

The teachers in the districts know such learners; therefore government through the district directors can roll out support for such children by contacting the teachers. In education, no child should be left behind.

More Appreciation for Teachers
As schools are closed and lockdown has been imposed, some parents are for the first time spending a single full day with their children. Parents are fast coming to appreciate everything their teachers do. A number of parents are already complaining and wishing the pandemic will be over soon so they ‘dump’ their children on teachers again.

There is something unique about that student-teacher connection, that bond between teachers and their students. Having that face-to-face connection with learners and being able to support them across their unique skills cannot be replicated in a distance learning environment. Some learners even feel comfortable talking over issues with their teachers than parents.

Most parents are now beginning to understand what it means for teachers to spend the day taking care and helping raise their children. It’s hard enough when parents have two or three kids at home all day now. Many will surely realize just how hard it must be to have 30 to 50 or more in a class. By this understanding, parents will come to appreciate the enormity of the teachers’ job.

Once the working world regains a degree of normality, most parents will not take the teachers’ job for granted so much.

In conclusion, the COVID-19 pandemic has put education in the basic and high schools in a long, dark tunnel. There are challenges as well as opportunities to leverage. As we are looking to cope with the crisis we are in, we must also think of ways to come out with a stronger, improved educational system that will stand any future upheavals.

Online learning should be properly designed and maintained. We have to look at how to help the marginalized that has no access to smart devices or internet to access online education by resourcing all community libraries with adequate computers and internet connectivity to be used during vacations.

Also the ministry of education in collaboration with the Telecommunications companies should create special learning websites that allows free access and downloads so all students whether well-to-do or poor, can easily access the learning materials on those specific websites.

Remote learning should not just be a cosmetic solution to COVID-19 pandemic; it should be well structured and made part of academic activities of basic and senior high schools as this is the current world trend. If we had been doing this, the pandemic would not have pulled a surprise on our education. Teachers would have been engaging their students and still giving exercises. Now most teachers are not engaged.

The ministry of education now have a much clearer understanding of the gaps and challenges (in connectivity, hardware, integration of digital tools in the curriculum) that exist in using technology effectively and should therefore act upon them for a better education system. The pandemic has affected education in the country and we have to leverage on the lessons learnt. Now is the time for parents, teachers and the education ministry to unite with a renewed sense of responsibility for a stronger education system.