Ghana’s public educational system has been on a retrogressive trajectory. Interestingly, those who have had the best part of it are supervising its decline. Ironically, what used to be the standard public educational system is now an overpriced premium service. It must not be lost on us that the quality of a nation’s output is greatly determined by the quality of its education.
In 2019, the Nana Addo administration instituted the Year of Return, which was intended to encourage the diasporans to come back into the country for visits, to invest, and ultimately to resettle here. So, when I saw a returnee make a video lamenting about the high cost of private education (obviously she had to opt for a private education because of the appalling standards in public education), it reminded me of how defeatist most of our policies turn out to be because of the top–down approach we have been accustomed to.
Our formal educational system did not evolve from our primal structure. A colonial administration imposed it, and it will be naïve not to assume that the system will be intentionally limiting and cannot lead to the development of thinkers and problem solvers. The Rawlings administration sought to resolve that issue by instituting a reform to restructure the colonial educational system, including a broader scope of learning and practical skills to equip the average Ghanaian with basic problem-solving skills.
The Dzobo Committee’s recommendations and the ensuing policies were fine ideas, but unfortunately, that’s where our strength ends. We don’t lack ideas; in fact, we have more than needed. Our bane is putting those ideas into proper, actionable courses.
I attended Kabore School Complex, one of the best basic schools in the Volta Regional capital, from 1996 to 2007, Kindergarten to Junior High (my time, that was Junior Secondary, but we will get to that). Established by Colonel Kabore, Kabore is a suitable model school and an ideal example of what I believe the 1974 reform was intended to be.
When my sister and I were in Kabore, it had all the stages of basic school education from KG to JSS. When she was in Junior Secondary School from 1996 to 1998, they had a workshop block – prevocational skills, pre-technical skills, and science. This was used for practical lessons and had some basic tools and facilitators to guide. When I got to JSS, I spent about a term in the “workshop,” only this time, it was my classroom.
Due to funding, I presume, and an increase in population without complementary infrastructure, the workshop was converted into a classroom. This is evidence of how policies are largely developed and implemented in this part of the world. We have beautiful imaginations, then we move to type impeccable English on paper, then go on a victory lap with the black and whites without proper considerations for the brick-and-mortar issues.
Do you remember I mentioned Kabore had a KG to Junior Secondary School, but today, the Junior Secondary is called Junior High School, and that’s all there is to it, a mediocre name change. The Kuffour administration instituted a so-called reform that rebranded basic education. I can’t believe I will be using such an adjective to describe an educational reform, but that was the only thing the 2007 Education Reform Programme achieved.
Not only did it change the name of an effective policy that was being poorly implemented, but it also disrupted it. This is because the true intention was to apply lacquer to a dusty original piece to claim credit, rather than dusting and restoring as a caring custodian would have done. Partisan politics is a foolishness potion that has poisoned progress in this country for a long time.
The report of the Presidential Committee on Review of Education Reforms did not present any groundbreaking insight either. The suggestion of a 2-year Kindergarten, 6 years of Primary, and a 3-year Junior Secondary School wasn’t a structural overhaul but, at best, a suggestion for the implementation of an existing system. When I left nursery in 1996, I was interviewed by a military education officer and was admitted to kindergarten 1. Therefore, the suggestion to extend this system to include the government-owned schools in 2007 by building school blocks cannot be a structural overhaul, and I don’t think we need a committee report for that.
Likewise, the TVET, Business, IT, and Agricultural aspects would have resulted from natural progression if the original system had been properly implemented. Kabore had a workshop to facilitate the vocational facet of the 74 reforms. If this infrastructure were extended to all public schools, we would have more pupils graduating from the basic school system with interest and vocational/technical skills, which would necessitate the expansion of the already existing Secondary Technical School system. And by the way, I studied agricultural science in JSS, and we even tried a class farm.
We can’t begin a conversation on building a sustainable society without giving serious consideration to the orientation of the people who will form this society. The 1974 reform, albeit not perfect, provided a solid foundation that can be built upon to provide quality education. A practical-based system of education that will equip the citizenry with skills and knowledge about their immediate environment so that they can identify the problems and provide sustainable solutions.
I noted earlier in the introductory part that this article was prompted by a video made by a returning citizen who complained about the high cost of “international schools.” The irony is, the curriculum that our elites, politicians, upper class, and some struggling supposed middle class pay hard currency for is the discarded, not fit for purpose “syto” curriculum. Not only are we wasting scarce resources on overpriced education, but we are also perpetuating a colonial ideology and a classist system that leaves the top completely detached from the bottom, ensuring the cycle of beautifully branded, half-thought-through policies that have zero or negative real impact.
We need to prioritize public education and provide suitable infrastructure that will ensure a safe and enabling environment for teaching and learning. If we had properly implemented the 1974 reform and ensured that every public school had from KG to JSS with workshops and lads to facilitate the practical aspects of the curriculum, we would have had a smoother ride implementing the policy of Free Senior High School, because all we would have needed then was to add extra blocks to some of the basic schools and expand few facilities. So, the pupils won’t have to leave their homes for secondary education but continue in the same community where they attained their basic education. This wouldn’t only significantly reduce the cost of public education but also improve quality. Now, appropriate funds will be allocated to materials that can ensure quality interactions.
Policy implementation should have a bottom-up approach. We found ourselves returning to the same problems because we have neglected solid foundations and surrendered to slogans, animations, and glossy brochures. The recent policy on secondary education, which should have been the fulfillment of a right of the people, has instead collapsed an already ailing institution, throwing its structure and curriculum into disarray, because we failed to build a proper basic educational infrastructure, which could have been easily expanded to accommodate the Senior Secondary School system, when we decided to make it free to increase access. We could have done that and converted the existing standalone Secondary Schools into specialty schools and resource centers, so we can now properly integrate Senior Secondary School education into the basic school system.
We need to think critically about the sort of society we want to build. We can afford the high fees now, but we must not be oblivious to the fact that they won’t have the enabling environment to manifest whatever knowledge you assume to be instilled. You may be grooming them for the world, as is in vogue. Well, I guess the world is home too.
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