Is something really wrong with public basic schools?
Education is a social institution in two senses; first it is about the people in a particular society, second it is rooted in the beliefs, conventions, customs and the activities of the people in the society concerned.
Like all the ancient traditional societies all over the word, education until the invention of the art of writing, was practical and was provided by parents themselves. However, with the evolution of the school system, education provided in educational institutions became rigidly regulated and the mode of instruction became more theoretical.
Our formal education was largely influenced by education in England just as education in all European countries was influenced by education in ancient Greece.
While in the case of European countries innovations were introduced to respond to the needs of the people following the political and technological revolutions which took place there, we have stubbornly become strangely nostalgic of the colonial system of education we inherited, so much so that we are very skeptical about all the reforms so far introduced.
Those who by their education, are expected to understand the need to transform our educational system rather shun the idea and prefer the colonial system of education which is largely an anachronism today.
For some time now, our basic schools have been looked down upon by many, in spite of numerous reforms and interventions made in both the content and structure of the system and the remarkable improvements in the initial teacher preparation undertaken by successive governments.
Makeshift
The alarming trend in our educational system is the springing up of makeshift private schools which start as crèches and ultimately become basic schools. While I concede that parents have the right to send their children to schools of their choice, it is imperative on the state to ensure that schools that the children of this country attend, at least, meet the basic required standards prescribed by the Ministry of Education.
Recently, the District Director of Education in Tamale was reported to have said that the Tamale metropolis alone has 300 private basic schools, of which only less than 50 or so have been registered by the GES. The situation is alarming, how many public basic schools are in that district?
The current concern of many Ghanaians is with the quality of education the pupils in the public basic schools receive as compared with the quality of education the private schools provide. The real question, therefore, is whether our public basic schools are improving or getting worse? If they are getting worse, what are the possible reasons?
A cursory survey of the measures taken by successive governments will reveal that our public basic schools ought to be improving and not getting worse.
First, let us look at the development of teacher preparation in Ghana after 1957. Throughout the colonial days, the highest qualification of teachers in the basic schools was the four-year certificate ‘A’. From1957 till now, a series of reforms had been carried through successively in the initial teacher preparation from the four-year certificate ‘A’ through the two-year post –secondary, the three-year post-secondary, the two-year specialist and later the three-year diploma. Since 2008, the basic qualification for teaching in our basic schools is the three-year diploma, the colleges being upgraded to tertiary status.
Dr Kwame Acheampong, in a study contained in Country Report One entitled ‘Teacher Training in Ghana – Does it Count? (2003) provides a graphic account of development of teacher preparation in Ghana.
In terms of academic and professional qualifications alone, as an educational input, teachers in our public basic schools are well-positioned to effectively and efficiently discharge their duties to raise the quality of education than what prevailed in the colonial days.
With regard to reforms of content of education provided in our basic public schools, we started with the Continuation schools in 1963, whereby pupils who could not go to secondary schools after a eight-year basic schooling were predisposed to practical studies during the last two years of the 10-year basic education. The concept of the Continuation school was endorsed by the Education Review Committee appointed in June 1966.
In 1974, the New Structure and Content of Education was introduced aimed at diversifying basic school curriculum to include pre-vocational and technical education. The new programme introduced the Junior Secondary on pilot basis. By 1987, we had 118 such schools throughout the whole country.
Reforms
Following the 31st December, 1981 coup d’etat, the government introduced Educational Reforms based on the 1974 New Structure and Content but radically modified the structure to be six-year primary, three-year Junior Secondary School, three-year Senior Secondary School and four-year University education. The content of the basic education, however, was the same as provided in the 1974 New Structure and Content of Education.
By all intents and purposes, the new content of education was to positively respond to the needs of the people and the country.
The Education Review Committee had earlier in 1968 recommended that as a long-term policy, the pre-secondary school education should be six-year primary and either four-year or five-year secondary with a two-year sixth form programme for those who could go to the universities.
The Provisional National Defense Council (P.N.D.C) set up a National Commission on Education with Dr Evans Anfom, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Science and Technology, Kumasi as the Chairman. The commission made a number of recommendations but the country did not know what happened to those recommendations.
In the same vein, Mr T.A. Osae former Deputy Director-General of the Ghana Education Service was made a Chairman of a committee, in the 1970s, to prepare for the implementation of the JSS but when the 1987 Educational Reforms were being carried out, the recommendations of his committee were not taken into account.
The philosophy behind the JSS now JHS concept was and, is still valid, what went wrong perhaps, was the implementation. From 1987 till now, is long enough to have made the system deliver and win the confidence of the public.
When the conversion of the middle schools into JSS was being carried out, studies conducted indicated that some of the existing schools were structurally appropriate to be converted without any modification, some were to be structurally modified and still others entirely needed to be reconstructed.
This was not done, and all of them converted as they were then. It was expected that a deliberate plan would have been in place to ensure that all the Junior High Schools met the basic standard of physical infrastructure. During the 1987 reforms, the World Bank provided funds for construction and refurbishment of some of the schools, yet some of the schools are not up to the required standard.
One educational input necessary to ensure quality education, is continuous in-service education and training for all teachers. During the 1987 reforms this aspect was given scanty attention.
Though there is some sort of school-based, cluster-based and other types of in-service-education and training, the coverage is not enough as to cater for all teachers. A more serious attention must be given to this aspect of education to ensure that teachers are in tune with the pace of change in educational thought and practice.
Community involvement
Since 1995, the Ghana Education Service has initiated policy of involvement of the community in the governance and management of the public basic schools through the establishment of District Education Oversight Committees (DEOC) School Management Committees (SMC) School Performance Appraisal Meetings (SPAM) from school level through circuit, community to the district. With these structures, one wonders why public schools are not delivering as required and expected.
Any educational system properly so-called consists of the people-policy makers, educational administrators, teachers, pupils/students and parents, content of education, the structure of education and the physical infrastructure. If the parents and the community have been provided with the opportunity to influence the governance, management and delivery of education the expectation is that the educational system will respond positively to their needs.
One factor negatively affecting efficiency and effectiveness of delivery of education is the shortage of qualified teachers despite all the efforts that had been made to train more teachers because the teaching profession is not the preferred choice of the youth.
The solution is to make teaching an attractive career choice, providing appropriate and suitable compensation scheme to match teacher supply and demand, providing effective and competitive terms and conditions that link promotion and remuneration to competence, good conduct and seniority as well as contribution to knowledge creation and relevant community work.
Where do the Teacher Unions stand in our search for quality education in our public basic schools? The public perception is that the Teacher Unions over protect their members even when in default. The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), however, holds the view ‘That it cannot continue to have power for its members if it cannot have power over them’.
Flowing from this philosophy it continuously advises its members to refrain from any acts that are likely to tarnish their reputation individually and as a group. For over fifty-four years now, every year the GNAT, in conjunction with the Canadian Teachers Federation (CTF), organisers education and training programmes for selected teachers to update their knowledge and skills. The GNAT collaborates actively with the GES from the district to the national level in the implementation of educational policies and programmes.
What is the role of individual teachers in the promotion of quality education? Every teacher is required and expected to take personal responsibility for academic and professional improvement on a continuous basis.
Individual teachers have both legal and moral obligations to honour their contract of service with the GES by performing their assigned tasks with skill and care and conduct themselves appropriately within the ethics of the teaching profession and the code of conduct.
The teachers and their unions have to prove to the nation that they are up to the task they are charged to perform and that they will discharge their duties with competence, commitment and dedication.
Our governments must be bold to call on parents and guardians to pay appropriate realistic school fees and levies that will enable the public basic schools to be well-resourced, failing that public basic schools ought to be adequately funded by the state.
When the Education Act 2008, (Act 778) is fully operationalised, we expect the various metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies to manage the basic public schools very well to provide quality education to the children of the tax-payers for whom they exist.
In the same vein, it is hoped that governments will resource the various educational bodies established under the Education Act 2008, (Act 778) to discharge their statutory duties without undue interference.
Let us be optimistic about the present and the future of our public basic schools and trust that they are capable of delivering quality education to Ghanaian pupils.