I was listening to Citi FM’s CBS this morning and Bernard Avle, Kodjo Akoto Boateng, Nana Ama Agyeman Asante and the rest of the team were trying to place their finger on exactly what is wrong with Ghana. They were trying to understand why Ghanaians behave as we do.
One of the panelists was of the view that Ghanaians are inherently wicked. In his opinion, it is sheer wickedness that makes politicians care too little for the issues that affect the masses the most. Maybe that is true because, after all, the politicians do not come from space. They come from the same society that accuses them of corruption and self-centeredness.
Ama held the assertion that Ghana’s problem is a leadership problem. She believed that leaders in this country did not have the political will to enforce laws and if that is fixed then Ghana’s development will see an upward spiral.
One listener, Kojo Amponsah @miroyoo20, posted on the #CitiCBS’ twitter page,
“Politicians are simply Ghanaians who are given power. It’s not possible they can think & act differently. The same culture socialised us. So I always say there cannot be bad politicians and good people”.
I don’t disagree with any of these postulations but I believe all these are embedded in one; EDUCATION.
The kind of education we give to children and the youth in Ghana is the root of all our problems and therein lies all the solutions as well. I have always said that the problems of the world are caused by the mindsets of people and the solutions to same are embedded in the kind of mindset people have.
The only way by which the minds of people are trained, formed and or transformed is through education. And when I say education, I mean Social Education (Home training), Academic Education (Schooling) and Moral Education (Religious training). There is always a direct correlation among these three, thus, the objective and content of all three must be synced.
That is the first problem with the Ghanaian Educational System. The home teaches one thing, the school teaches another and the religious group encourages another. Until there is a synchronization among what the home, the school and the church/mosque/tradition teaches, the nation cannot enjoy the fruits of education in its entirety.
A case in point: School has taught me that after the age of 18, I have a right to make my own decisions. But my father says so long as he remains my sire, I must succumb to what he wants for me because apparently, he knows me better. The church teaches me not love my father more than the Lord. This may seem very insignificant but, the fact is, too many young people are always I a dilemma as to how to satisfy religion, home and school.
The second problem with our educational system is that we have equated education to schooling. This is the reason why we pay less attention to what the church and the home teach and think that anyone who has gone through a schooling system should be very productive to the self and to the nation. If that were true, then Ghana would have been the most developed nation in the world. There are too many technocrats, professionals and Ph.D. holders in our governments but the same problem of 1957 are the same problems of 2018.
History tells us that the Colonial Government carved a schooling system to satisfy a specific need. At the time, the Europeans in the Gold Coast needed clerks for their courts, scribes for their offices and teachers for their children. Thus, they designed an academic curriculum to meet this need.
After independence, the Government of Ghana should have looked at the needs of the nation at the time and design relevant curricula to meet those needs. Till now, our system is still churning out more professionals than the economy can employ. The schooling system is still training nurses and building fewer hospitals. More doctors graduate every year than jobs available for them all.
It’s a pity that Ghana is still training more readers and writers when the nation needs more doers and inventors.
If any proper change in behaviour will be seen in this country, more attention must be given to the kind of education we give to the younger generation. There must be a long, medium and short term education roadmap for this country. Our educational system must inculcate, encourage and incubate minds which uphold accountability, inventiveness and solutionism. There must be a separation of powers as well as checks and balances among the three sectors of education, i.e, home, school and religion.
We must Nurture people and not wait till they grow and then we Pepper or Sugar them.
…to be continued.
#NurtureDemMinistries
#BeIsnpired #RenewYourMind
Efo Korku Mawutor
I was listening to Citi FM’s CBS this morning and Bernard Avle, Kodjo Akoto Boateng, Nana Ama Agyeman Asante and the rest of the team were trying to place their finger on exactly what is wrong with Ghana. They were trying to understand why Ghanaians behave as we do.
One of the panelists was of the view that Ghanaians are inherently wicked. In his opinion, it is sheer wickedness that makes politicians care too little for the issues that affect the masses the most. Maybe that is true because, after all, the politicians do not come from space. They come from the same society that accuses them of corruption and self-centeredness.
Ama held the assertion that Ghana’s problem is a leadership problem. She believed that leaders in this country did not have the political will to enforce laws and if that is fixed then Ghana’s development will see an upward spiral.
One listener, Kojo Amponsah @miroyoo20, posted on the #CitiCBS’ twitter page,
“Politicians are simply Ghanaians who are given power. It’s not possible they can think & act differently. The same culture socialised us. So I always say there cannot be bad politicians and good people”.
I don’t disagree with any of these postulations but I believe all these are embedded in one; EDUCATION.
The kind of education we give to children and the youth in Ghana is the root of all our problems and therein lies all the solutions as well. I have always said that the problems of the world are caused by the mindsets of people and the solutions to same are embedded in the kind of mindset people have.
The only way by which the minds of people are trained, formed and or transformed is through education. And when I say education, I mean Social Education (Home training), Academic Education (Schooling) and Moral Education (Religious training). There is always a direct correlation among these three, thus, the objective and content of all three must be synced.
That is the first problem with the Ghanaian Educational System. The home teaches one thing, the school teaches another and the religious group encourages another. Until there is a synchronization among what the home, the school and the church/mosque/tradition teaches, the nation cannot enjoy the fruits of education in its entirety.
A case in point: School has taught me that after the age of 18, I have a right to make my own decisions. But my father says so long as he remains my sire, I must succumb to what he wants for me because apparently, he knows me better. The church teaches me not love my father more than the Lord. This may seem very insignificant but, the fact is, too many young people are always I a dilemma as to how to satisfy religion, home and school.
The second problem with our educational system is that we have equated education to schooling. This is the reason why we pay less attention to what the church and the home teach and think that anyone who has gone through a schooling system should be very productive to the self and to the nation. If that were true, then Ghana would have been the most developed nation in the world. There are too many technocrats, professionals and Ph.D. holders in our governments but the same problem of 1957 are the same problems of 2018.
History tells us that the Colonial Government carved a schooling system to satisfy a specific need. At the time, the Europeans in the Gold Coast needed clerks for their courts, scribes for their offices and teachers for their children. Thus, they designed an academic curriculum to meet this need.
After independence, the Government of Ghana should have looked at the needs of the nation at the time and design relevant curricula to meet those needs. Till now, our system is still churning out more professionals than the economy can employ. The schooling system is still training nurses and building fewer hospitals. More doctors graduate every year than jobs available for them all.
It’s a pity that Ghana is still training more readers and writers when the nation needs more doers and inventors.
If any proper change in behaviour will be seen in this country, more attention must be given to the kind of education we give to the younger generation. There must be a long, medium and short term education roadmap for this country. Our educational system must inculcate, encourage and incubate minds which uphold accountability, inventiveness and solutionism. There must be a separation of powers as well as checks and balances among the three sectors of education, i.e, home, school and religion.
We must Nurture people and not wait till they grow and then we Pepper or Sugar them.
…to be continued.
#NurtureDemMinistries
#BeIsnpired #RenewYourMind
Efo Korku Mawutor
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