Enhance study of history in schools to preserve GH culture –David Dontoh

VETERAN actor, David Dontoh, is challenging the Ministry of Education to support the ongoing promotion and preservation of Ghana’s culture and heritage agenda by enhancing the study of History and Geography in schools.

He mentioned that getting the Ministry of Education to get these two courses studied at both the Junior and Senior High schools would groom and enlighten Ghanaians about their culture and heritage at an early stage of their lives.

Speaking with Graphic Showbiz on the sidelines at the launch of Akwaaba Festival in Accra recently, Mr Dontoh said the ministry should be intentional about it since that was the only way to get Ghanaians to proudly flaunt their culture outside her shores.

“Let us also encourage the Ministry of Education to get our schools, both the Junior and Senior High schools to learn history and geography. These two subjects are very important in the promotion of our culture and heritage.

“With this, the children we are training in the various schools will come to understand what our environment and its components mean and what our history tells us and everything that identifies us as Ghanaians,” he stated.

As part of its objective to develop domestic tourism through the Ghanaian culture and the creative arts, the Ghana Tourism Authority, under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture and its partner agencies, launched the See Ghana, Eat Ghana, Wear Ghana, Feel Ghana in 2017. (Read also Zed Ay Kay: Big artistes don’t owe upcoming artistes support)

Among the many goals of the campaign was to ignite the “I am Ghanaian’’ in line with the broader agenda of highlighting the tourism potential of the country.

However, the actor who has starred in several movies including Beasts of No Nation, Snowfall, The Dead and The Cursed Ones is certain such campaigns expected to provide a platform for existing cultural and historic events, will not yield better results if the players (Ghanaians) don’t appreciate and promote their own culture.

“I want to intimate that we try as much as we can to imbibe and maintain the identity of our heritage as a country. It is through our interest that we can be ambassadors and invite the rest of the world to come and experience our rich culture and heritage.

“When we come together and do this, we can make Ghana the ultimate tourism destination for the world. It can only happen when we have a distinct and unique heritage as a country that everybody in the world wants to come and see, but if we dilute it, there will be nothing left for the outside world to come and experience.

“For us in Africa and Ghana, for that matter, to do this is what we have and we must preserve and protect,” he said.

David Dontoh also lauded the organisers of the Akwaaba Festival for creating a platform to promote Ghana’s culture outside Ghana.