The core of every nation is their human resource. A nation’s greatest value can be seen in the value of its youth. The value of the systems in which the people operate but most importantly the value of their education. Here in Africa and Ghana to be specific we are no exception. The quality of our education as a country largely determines the kind of future we will have as country.
The Ghanaian educational system, for the past six years has seen significant improvements in the system in accordance with the United Nation (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) goal 4 which highlights Quality education. The big question however is how quality is our education?
The goal, is to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” the goal comprises of 10 targets that are to be met by 2030. Ghana, a member of the United Nations rallies behind the common goal of “leaving no one behind”
For all intents and purposes, “leaving no one behind” means that, all disabled person, boys and girls and indeed persons of all ages would not be left behind in the pursuant of education. This statement when mirrored in Ghana paints quite a gloomy picture. With 2030 just lurking in the corner, the gap between the quality of education in Ghana and the SDG standard of education leaves a lot to be desired.
The first target under the goal 4 indicates that “all boys and girls complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education”
In the year 2017, plans for the roll out of the free education policy for secondary schools begun. By 2019 the first batch had started their first semester off the double track system. Till date, parents, teachers and majority of the citizens, students themselves do not even have a formal and laid down calendar to follow. As much as the complaints come we must note that these complains illustrate a certain needed sense of urgency. Many have Issues with the double track system. Some say it is too short and teaching is not as effective as they feel it should be; the complaints are many and vary from one corner of the country to another. The complaints beg the question, what is the quality education and what are the thoughts that are going into meeting the educational target? Is it one of the structures put up to ensure that Ghana looks good on paper?
How we are settling these issues and what are we as a people doing about it.
In 2016 when President Akuffo Addo do announced the free S.H.S. policy, many Ghanaians were elated. The thought of not having to pay school fees for the same quality of education probably swayed most parents to vote in the favor of the New Patriotic Party at the time. Though there were the believers there were those who posed questions. Lots of questions. These were the arguments against the idea of implementing the free policy.
In fact, one of the many and sad arguments is that, as a country we do not have the physical structures to support or maintain the free SHS policy. The schools aren’t enough meanwhile the students are many and so how do we provide quality education to students when we do not have the school buildings to educate them in? Let me rephrase, we do not have enough school buildings to educate them all.
The sad thing about this is that, for some senior high schools, the structures are available, they have the teachers and so despite the pressure on the boarding facilities, they education is given, but how equitable is this? How does the young boy from Woarabeba in Winneba have access to the same education the young boy from Cape coast or Accra is receiving? Must he travel to that destination too? Where is the equality? Is our desire to provide quality education only going to be proven on paper?
Target 3 hopes to “ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university”
Technical and vocational education training (TVET) has come a long in this country. The stigmatization surrounding it has come to an almost halt. The government has done well in the setting up of vocational and technical senior high schools and universities, but the question is after higher learning what next? University curriculums include at most a three month internship at some firms. How many strong vocational firms can this country boasts of? And even before reaching this far point, are there any mentors from these vocational skills industries? Ambassadors for TVET were unveiled and they were all persons with no TVET background whatsoever. Where is the encouragement? The government has in place the One District, One Factory policy to push individuals in this sector, but really how accessible are they? Because for most people, after senior high school, they are shipped off to some vocational traders to become apprentices, and then after learning the job, they may start their own business. But I ask, they may be good at it, but where is the quality? A good example is the fashion industry. There is such a thing as “the local seamstress” because some fashion designer produces a higher quality product as a result of having had access to a higher learning institution. Shouldn’t they at least, be at the same level? Once again, where is the equal access and quality education?
By far, Ghana seems to tick all the boxes under the SDG goal 4 of quality Education, but I don’t think the provision of policies finalizes the quality of our education.
There is a huge gap in educational infrastructure, most boarding senior high school are over packed as a result of inadequate houses for students. Our problem in this country is that, we chase policies. We never sit and wait to properly plan ahead of the policies we want to implement.
A typical example is our free SHS policy. It is an amazing policy, but do we have the infrastructure for it? No. hence, the introduction of a double track system.
In the normal times of a three term academic year system, teachers were not able to complete syllabuses for the whole 3 year term, how on earth, would they be able to finish that same syllabus in the space of a two term academic year? Not many parents have the means to pay for vacation classes for the three month period these children come to stay home therefore, how free is this free education? And where is the quality?
Ghana on paper looks so beautiful, it would be a shame to realize that, in leaving no one behind, we clamored for policies and structures well put up on paper, but left the physical structures, which are the most important hanging in the air. It may seem that we check the boxes of the targets under goal 4, ones mentioned here and the others, but then, exactly how quality is our quality?
Writer: Vanessa Calys-Tagoe
The writer is a student of the Ghana Institute of Journalism
