Satisfied with Mediocrity

I am not a football fan so I did not watch the match between Ghana and England. Consequently, I missed Asamoah-Gyan’s equalizer, but judging from the comments on BBC news the following morning, I missed a thriller. My loss. Yet that same news bulleting was also an eye-opener: Ghanaians are satisfied with mediocrity! I learnt that embarrassing fact from comments offered by jubilating fans interviewed by the BBC correspondent in Accra.

Apparently, the fans interviewed did not know the difference between a draw and a win. After extolling Asamoah-Gyan’s effort, the first fan ended thus: …and Ghana won”. The reporter immediately contradicted: “Ghana did not win the game”. The fan insisted: “It was an away win, away goal for Ghana”.  The second fan was equally excited: “it was an icing on the cake”, to which the reporter immediately countered: “There was no cake. Ghana was losing”. When the newsreader said, “someone will have to explain this away win for me”, I groaned from embarrassment but echoed his sentiments. Did Ghana win or draw? Someone who watched should please tell me. When a Cameroonian sent a text that Ghanaians “should not be complaisant but prepare for a win”, I silently applauded him. Here was an African who knew the difference.

I have been baffled whenever the Black Stars have been hailed as national heroes in the last two World Cup Tournaments. Even though, they always made it to the quarter finals only in both cases, in Ghana they were the world champions. Much as I laud appreciation, I believe that people should be encouraged to reach for their highest potentials. Offer praise but prod gently for improvement. That is why after both World Cup Tournaments, I asked myself how the Black Stars could ever aspire for the World Cup when Ghanaians are already satisfied with quarter final status. After listening to the dialogues above. I answered my own question, For Ghanaians, a drawn game is a win just as finishing at quarter final is equivalent to attaining the World Cup. And the pathetic reason is this: Instead of striving for and rewarding excellence, Ghanaians are satisfied with mediocrity. No wonder the nation moves backwards instead of forward. Poor Mother Ghana!

  

Why there will be no Action in 2011

A concerned Ghanaian has hypothesized that there is no “better Ghana agenda” and that the expression is a slogan culled by the ruling government. I have disagreed with him so far because of the disastrous implications of that hypothesis. If there is no agenda, then like a train without control, the country has been hurtling down a canyon for the past two years, heading for a mighty crash, and it probably has. There is ample proof of that in the messy education, failing health system and the general lawlessness of the country, to mention three. Any human entity that promises a better society but destroys education can, at best, be described as self-destructive. If that entity happens to be in charge of a country, that nation can only go backwards. One such nation is Ghana. A country develops only on the back of a healthy and educated population, two areas in which Ghana is determinedly moving backwards instead of forward. And because we have chosen to destroy education, Ghanaians are behaving as ignoramuses, delighting in wrongdoing that destroys nation rather than engage in positive acts which build nation.

And to legitimize our blindness to reality and general unruliness, leadership has coined another phrase, “action year”, to further the nonexistent “agenda”, which phrase has been taken over by politicians and even football commentators, but which apparent national gullibility has finally roused me from my slumber. If there is no agenda, what possible action could leadership be referring to except perhaps the usual gimmick of creating distraction through such empty witticism, get the masses to debate endlessly thereby glossing over the fact that not much is being done! Alas, I have no choice but to accept that there is no “better Ghana agenda” because leadership has woefully failed to provide any. We have been living a lie. Ironically, what leadership lacks in initiative, it makes up for in rhetoric. Government avoids productive work by dabbling in useless political debates, numerous press conferences and blame-game, pathetically backed by sycophantic Ghanaians who live only for today and gleefully sacrifice quality life for bread and ostentation.

Ours is a culture that thrives on modesty; good deeds not be trumpeted. One proverb that expresses that worldview is “ahwene pa nkasa”, which literally translates, quality beads make no noise. The English version of that proverb might be “empty barrels make the most noise”. The President of Ghana, being a teacher and an elder, doubtlessly appreciates that aspect of our culture which exhorts modesty and eschews boastfulness. So even if the President had very bold actions lined for the year, cultural sensitivity and humility would prevent him from boasting to the nation; he would act and allow Ghanaians to judge. Again, why should a president who has apparently been working tirelessly since he took over the reins of state direction find it necessary to announce that he is going to act, implying he has been doing nothing so far? So what has constituted action for the past two years?

One area which proves that there is no “better Ghana agenda” is education. Yes, there have been some actions yet those acts provide strong evidence of leadership cluelessness. It was a campaign manifesto to revert secondary school duration to three years. Being an educationist, the President, better than anyone, knows the serious implications of changing an educational system. If there had been an agenda, that promise would have been made simultaneously with an action plan regarding syllabus change, provision for teacher education, teaching/learning materials and physical infrastructure to accommodate the surge of numbers bound to have come with that policy change. Fortunately, this regime did not even have to start from scratch. The previous one had started with such infrastructure so it was a matter of doubling the pace. That did not happen. Of course, when President Mills made that promise, he did not think he would win the election. The then Government never thought it would lose the election either so it never took the statement seriously. Insightful Ghanaians foresaw the catastrophic consequences of that statement but deluded ourselves that it would not happen. So when the unexpected happened, President Mills found himself faced with a party manifesto without any action plan. Realistically, not all party manifestoes are meant to be implemented. A ruling party can renege a promise if its implementation would not augur well for national development. This was clearly one such manifesto. A planned agenda could have informed current leadership of that option. But there was none. So the only thing that happened was the change from four years to three.

Consequently, even basic infrastructure to accommodate students is lacking. Currently, existing facilities such as assembly halls, school garages, staff common rooms have been converted to classrooms and dormitories. A very dangerous trend has also emerged. School authorities have improvised by boarding fresh secondary school students in domestic houses, outside school premises. It is difficult enough controlling students in the boarding house; what is to become of them now that they have become external boarders? And some parents believe they have sent their wards to boarding schools. The safety issue aside, some of these rented premises have no good facilities; in short, some students are living in squalor. Yet, the building programmes in most of these schools have come to a halt for lack of funds. There was no indication from the 2011 budget that there is a national priority regarding school infrastructure.

If there was a “better Ghana agenda”, it obviously made no room for quality education, just quantity. One innovation in the 2008 education reform was that school syllabus was put on the Internet to enhance access. The 2010 change failed to maintain that service. The situation is not better in the first and tertiary cycles. The quality of education continues to fall due to overcrowded classrooms and inadequate teaching/learning materials, topped by poor human resource development, another legacy of President Mills and Mr. Tettey-Enyoh, the immediate former Education Minister. True, the party inherited some of the current problems, but if it had had an agenda, it would have sought to better rather than worsen such situations. How could anyone better society with ignorant masses. Yet rather than add quality by providing some of the basic resources for exiting institutions, the President has cut the sod for the commencement of another university, for physical education and applied sciences. Again quantity not quality! I wrote in August 2010 that the pair above had taken the nation back twenty years. I was wrong. Make that forty and multiply it by three and you would realize the extent of our regression in the past two years.

Another failed area is the National Health Insurance Scheme. Like education, the scheme has quantity but no quality. Funds are hardly released for that service compelling health providers to sometimes halt essential services such as food or ask patients to buy drugs. Others who can afford also pay in order to receive adequate health services, in spite of being beneficiaries of the Scheme. Instead of tackling the issue of funds, leadership is toying with the idea of a one-time premium, another party manifesto made without any back-up plan. But health needs its own platform. Would leadership learn from the education fiasco? If the 2011 budget gave no indication of innovative solutions to dire needs of education and health, what possible action could leadership have in store, and by what plan? Of the lawlessness of the nation, one needs not look beyond the avoidable carnage on Ghanaian roads. Yet lawlessness also needs its own platform. Leadership could have provided evidence of action had the increases in fuel prices been announced simultaneously with a new minimum wage. Nobody should be fooled by the STX housing deal because even if the homes are provided, destructive occupants would devalue them in no time. Yes, get the masses informed and they act responsibly; then you put them in a good position to value national property. In other words, start with good education and all other issues fall in line. Sadly, that basic knowledge has eluded government, headed by an educationist!

If there was a “better Ghana agenda”, it would be tackling crucial national needs through policy continuation and introduction of relevant long-term ones. The only action in 2011 would continue to be the noise pollution from politicians and sycophants. There would be no action that would amount to a national strategy to address real developmental needs. Leadership will only skirt around symptoms rather than tackle root causes of national challenges! Action year?

President Mills and the Education Minister

This is not an original piece since I am merely echoing what all concerned Ghanaians have been pointing out these few weeks. Teachers of tertiary institutions—University Teachers’ Association of Ghana (UTAG) & Polytechnic Teachers’ Association of Ghana (POTAG) went on strike. The President of the country decided to intervene by setting up a committee of inquiry. However, he mandated the committee to investigate grievances of UTAG only, completely ignoring POTAG, confusing clear-thinking Ghanaians: Why did the President not mandate the committee to investigate grievances of both groups of teachers? Would that not have been better utilization of resources? Isn’t polytechnic education as equally important? It is the obvious conclusion drawn by discerning ones that is worrying. “The President places a higher premium on university education; polytechnic education matters not”. Now that is the type of assumption made by the uninformed so it is extremely worrying when the Head of State, an educationist, implies by presidential intervention, even by the remotest signal, that he subscribes to that hollow thinking. But it is circumstantially difficult not to draw that conclusion—never mind Okudjeto Ablakwah’s gimmick.

Whilst UTAG was fighting for salary arrears, POTAG was asking for a dialogue with the Labour Commission, the Minister of Education and others to discuss conditions of service, both legitimate concerns. While the ministries involved never granted POTAG audience, and the President treated the latter with utter contempt, the Labour Commission has added insult to injury by taking POTAG to court, a move it would never dare try on UTAG. By marginalizing POTAG, however, the President, Minister of Education and all other concerned ministries have underscored the thinking that the polytechnic concept is yet to be understood by Ghanaians, leadership included. The trend has always been to place polytechnic scholarship lower than university learning on the educational hierarchy in Ghana. Thus the current situation is a strong indicator that Ghanaians need to be educated on the different roles played by polytechnic and university in national development. However, that education deserves its own platform; it cannot be squeezed into a piece of writing dealing with POTAG industrial action.

Ignoring POTAG and by implication, polytechnic students, is another evidence that the President and Education Minister, both educationists, are on a mission to destroy education in the country. Apart from the current infrastructural crisis, which has developed from bad decisions by the two men, there is overcrowding in public classrooms, inadequate teaching-learning materials, overtaxed teachers across all educational levels. Instead of taking practical steps to remedy the situation, President and Minister continue to make porous decisions that offer no lasting solutions to existing learning problems, creating avoidable hardships for the ordinary Ghanaian learner. Granting POTAG audience would have forestalled the industrial action thus save polytechnic students the agony of uncertainty and a delayed academic calendar. The sad part is that whilst public education is being heartlessly mangled, the private system thrives across all three cycles of learning.       

Currently, the British International School claims to be operating the English curriculum whilst the Lincoln International School lays claims to operating the American curriculum in Ghana. They are complemented by the numerous local international schools, which charge exorbitant fees for learning systems which are not effectively supervised by the Inspectorate Division of Ghana Education Service, for which reason, the authenticity of knowledge being imparted cannot be attested to by Ghanaian purists, except to judge by TV and radio advertisements and testimonies of the people paid to tout those institutions to consumers. My question: Whose world views are being offered to the taught? 

Concerned Ghanaians keep bemoaning the adulteration of Ghanaian culture by the youth and blame Western media and popular culture. Why go that far? Start the search from our own backyard. Private schools are running school curricula carte blanche, some of which do not even offer Ghanaian languages, sometimes due to lack of human resources and sometimes due to sheer disrespect by operators. In all fairness, why should a proprietor running a foreign curriculum teach the language—culture--of the host country when the aim is to offer a “better” learning alternative to the local people? When we destroy public education, we open avenues for human and cultural subservience to foreign world views. Let the discerning ones work out the implications.

Yet that is probably the master plan by the President and Education Minister--annihilate public education, seal off every opportunity for development for the ordinary Ghanaian, lay a solid foundation for generations of ignoramuses who would always accept crumbs from politicians. Such second degree citizens devoid of education, competency and analytical minds, would follow blindly, act with brutish instincts rather than analytical sense, live for the moment rather than build a sustainable future for community and country. Considering the speedy rate at which public education is being crushed and considering the dwindling numbers that can afford private/overseas education, that horrifying  society would be created sooner than later. Marginalizing POTAG is just an aspect of a grand design to crush Ghanaian development by destroying education. That is my opinion but then I am a pessimist; may be I also exaggerate. So I invite President Mills and the Education Minister to put me to shame: Prove me wrong by starting negotiations with POTAG in order to end the strike, for the sake of our students. Use a Presidential intervention to compel the Labour Commission to call off the court action. Prove me wrong, Gentlemen, by releasing enough funds to finish permanent structures across all learning cycles--you can do it if you prioritize. Prove me wrong by releasing funds to enable acquisition of current teaching-learning materials. Prove me wrong by using your knowledge in education to transform and advance education in the country. If that happened, the nation would be grateful. Current and future generations would be better placed in society. Above all, you would uphold human dignity. That is the reason people elect leaders. Justify the national stewardship reposed in you, President and Minister.

OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT MILLS AND EDUCATION MINISTER

Dear President and Minister
STRATEGIC INVESTMENT SUSTAINS EDUCATION

It has become generally accepted that education paves the way for expedited development. Yet for education to yield the desired development in a country, its leaders must have the political will to invest in quality education in all forms ranging from infrastructure, enrolment, teaching-learning materials, human resources to classroom instruction, to mention five. That there is a link between education and development should be of interest to every country which desires to compete well in a world, the “scientific and technological advancement” of which has yielded the “knowledge economy”. Thus a nation’s development is conditional not upon its finances alone but also on its human resource capabilities. To bring educational systems to standards such that its beneficiaries can adapt to the speedy changes in the world, policymakers, educationist and other stakeholders must constantly strive for the inclusion of positive global trends in school curricula. Moving with the world has become necessary because the world has become interdependent so much that a community risks destabilization in many ways if it refuses to develop at a certain rate and in relevant areas at the appropriate time.

Every educational system, like society, is dynamic; subsequently, if a learning system remained stagnant, it would cease to serve the general interests and needs of its people. From that perspective, formal education in Ghana has not been allowed to stagnate. It has undergone several changes in the hope of staying abreast with the times. However, the changes are yet to yield the type of human resources prepared to put the nation first. This failure is largely due to poor management of resources and partly due to untimely changes in national governance. Additionally, sometimes, educational reforms are introduced merely for political expediency not for improving standard.

Successive governments have failed to continue educational policies started by their predecessors. Sometimes, a reform planned by one government is hastily implemented by another, many years after the proposed change. In its haste, the implementing government would fail to consider pertinent details of the reform, available resources--human and material--or simply implement selectively, ignoring those areas that might stretch resources and actually test government’s level of commitment. Oftentimes, the reforms have been mainly theoretical, creating a huge gap between theory and practice at all levels of education. Also, teachers are hardly educated well in the use of new syllabi, often leading to poor classroom instruction or worse situations where teachers use old syllabi instead of reverting to new ones. Due to poor supervision, such instances go undetected for an unacceptable period, putting some school children at a great disadvantage.

In many situations, hasty implementation of educational reforms has increased the frequency of school failures and dropouts rather than extend learning opportunities. In certain situations, the funds and resources available or targeted by originating government are no longer available at the time of implementation; or the implementing government may simply have other plans for funds available. Therefore educational changes are made without the crucial elements of improved infrastructure, teaching-learning materials and the human resources instrumental in executing curricula change. Worst of all, when ruling Governments are overwhelmed by the cost of implementing educational policies, rather than explore innovative ways for funding, they resort to educational reform. We are currently at one such crossroad.

Due to time constraints and declining performance, the duration at the secondary level was changed to four years. Anamuah-Mensah, chairman of the Committee that designed the reform, has opined that the increase may have been due to unavailable infrastructure and other resources for effective implementation of the hitherto three-year programme. The recommended strategy, however, was for Government to “devote infrastructure and resources to ... the kindergarten, the primary ... the junior high school levels (JHS) levels”, in order to secure a solid learning foundation for the secondary level. However, in an apparent attempt to rectify the situation where currently most high school graduates communicate very poorly in English and vernacular, possess woefully inadequate knowledge in mathematics and science, and are thus so limited in life, the previous government increased the years to four in order to make up for some of the lapses at the fundamental stages. Though not the ideal situation, educationists were prepared to accommodate it for a period to judge its effectiveness, while urging the government to strengthen the foundation.

But your government could not be that accommodating; after only three enrolments of the four-year group, you have reversed senior high school duration to three years. Educationists are concerned about the disruption; also the short duration could hardly be used to evaluate that system effectively. Some had suggested a ten-year pilot basis for the four year system. Even after parliamentary approval of the reversion, concerned Ghanaians still question its justification and lament the long-term damage to the generation whose education is being toyed with. A critical analysis creates the impression that the cost involved in providing infrastructure and human resource development for the extra year might have motivated the reversion. Whereas the previous government had planned to provide the resources over four years you promised to change the curriculum and offer free school uniforms to pupils, leaving out infrastructure.

A month to re-opening of the 2010/2011 Academic Year, the Minister has admitted that there is not enough classrooms to accommodate fresh secondary school entrants and has entreated the Ghana Armed Forces to be on standby with tents for those entrants who may have to be housed outside classrooms. He said it would be a temporary situation but I do not believe that. Once those students get settled in the tents and teaching starts, attention would shift onto other issues and the tents would become permanent structures. The rainy season is not over yet. The Minister also reported that “500 six-unit classrooms blocks are under construction in most senior secondary and technical schools. That may sound encouraging but the appalling fact is that were we a serious nation, these units would have been completed and keys handed over to the school this month. The worst fact is that we could have done that. Adding infrastructure was part of the reform; it was planned such that by the fourth year, the appropriate infrastructure would have been in place. If we had gone by that time-table, there would be no reason for the current tent situation. By even contemplating housing students in tents, you have taken education and nation back twenty years!

One keeps wishing that Ghana would learn from its mistakes. From my educationist point of view, there is simply no justification for this school crisis. Your government could have strategized such that, at least, the appropriate infrastructure would have been in place for a smooth transition for all students. How do we expect teaching and learning to be conducive in tents? Why should we turn our children into refugees in their own country? Do we even care about the children whose education we are so callously jeopardizing? How many children of politicians in Ghana would be among those who would sit in those tents? That the announcement was put at the back page of Wednesday August 4, 2010 issue of the Daily Graphic infuriates me. How many concerned citizens and parents saw that? Does the issue of our children’s education not warrant a front page? Dear Sirs, who speaks for the ordinary Ghanaian?

I expected the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) to vehemently oppose housing students in tents since they strongly advocated the reversal to three years. NAGRAT’s position was that the fourth year was adding to the financial burden of the ordinary Ghanaian parent. Well, the Association should now consider the future cost to parents and nation if students learn in tents. Would the environment motivate diligent study and assimilation? What good could we possibly expect from students who study in tents? And we just banned remedial classes in public schools! Yet there are other the issues.

Before the reversal, the Minister promised a curriculum review, logically, to suit the reduction in years. That has not been done. So we are going to use a four-year curriculum to manage a three-year programme. Also teachers have not been given appropriate orientation for the task of juggling two different learning groups. Of course, we are counting on God’s help whilst shirking our responsibility. Do we really expect good performance from both teachers and students?

I read once that the hallmark of a good commander is to know when to retreat. I am not asking for a retreat; I am advocating an achievable strategy. Politicians OWE the ordinary Ghanaian child. Therefore STOP all National Committee activity for a month, withhold every Parliamentary and Castle allowances in same period; use those funds to provide quality classroom structures. FINISH THAT TASK BEFORE SCHOOL RE-OPENS!

Yours faithfully

Dinah Amankwah
(Educationist)