Brain drain aided by national timidity

Mentor: “Where do you see yourself in five years? Mentee: “Canada”

The mentee is a final-year senior high school student.

When asked if she would not stay and help build Ghana, her response was a definite “no”.

The student’s poise to leave Ghana raised the mentor’s concern.

Sadly, she is not alone; a majority of young and old Ghanaians are ready to migrate to Western countries for material wealth. 

The nation takes a far second place.

There is hardly a sense of gratitude to the nation for investing in the citizens.

 Having benefited from elementary and secondary education, the student is poised to leave Ghana and most likely has a relative in Canada equally poised to whisk her away.

 Training benefits go to another country.

Alarmingly, teachers and nurses are making a mass exit from the country.

Teachers leave a post in the middle of the school year and create a huge vacuum in classrooms.

Already, the nurse-to-patient ratio in public hospitals is appalling.

The mass exodus deepens the excruciating waiting time. 

The poignant fact is that there is no surprise element here.

Part of the 70s through the mid-80s brought a mass teacher exodus; the green destination then was Nigeria.

There was talk of better pay, availability and affordability of goods.

The atrocities heaped on Ghanaians by Nigerians were largely missing from the narratives.

My alma mater, St. Monica’s Girls Secondary School, suffered a poignant loss.

Mr Adzorgennu was a specialist English teacher. 

He handled the school’s everyday English series at the morning assembly. He spoke the language with a flair.

He did wonderful things with the school’s Drama Club. 

Above all, he was knowledgeable.

Students could not wait to get to Form Four to experience Mr Adzorgennu’s awesome teaching.

We had a taste of his teaching excellence in Form Four's first term.

We accepted his challenge to study.

We reported for the second semester only to be told that Mr Adzorgennu had left for greener pastures.

 The school was completely deflated; the Drama Club never recaptured its zest.

Ghana has consistently lost its human capital to other countries.

I do not know if the PNDC government did anything to halt the human capital drain, but when Nigerians decided to drive Ghanaians away, the government used two ships to bring Ghanaians home.

Upon all the talk of better living conditions, the migrants fell on Ghana’s magnanimity to return to the nation they had abandoned.

Among the migrants were people who had served the nation quite well.

However, the majority of the nurses and teachers currently leaving Ghana may have barely served the nation, after receiving allowances during their training. 

Some leave in the waiting period for posting, which means Ghana gains absolutely nothing from investing in such people and the numbers are horrendous.

During John Mahama’s administration, it was suggested that allowances for trainee nurses and teachers should be discontinued.

I also opposed the suggestion on pragmatic grounds. The allowance helps the financially constrained. 

The teaching practice period is probably the time many teachers do their best teaching.

My stance is to pay the allowance and make trainees work to complement the regular teachers’ efforts.

Trainee nurses go through a hectic practical regime covering the various sections of health services.

They are equally exposed to the hazards of the occupation during clinicals.

 A little remuneration is motivating as well as deserving.

The nation trains human resources to fulfil civic and other crucial national needs.

Therefore, the nation has the responsibility to ensure that trained human resources take up the mantle of responsibility to sustain the nation.

The government of the day spearheads the activity.

This government strategised through its National Corps Policy to retrain youth who could not be employed by the previous regime due to International Monetary Fund (IMF) restrictions.

The allowance system gave some breathing room to parents and unemployed youth.

A cross-section of those sprinting from Ghana have been beneficiaries of the National Corps Policy.

On the other hand, are recipient communities battling an ageing population and underpopulation so can use immigrants to fill population gaps.

Thus, Ghana must ensure that it does not become completely brain-drained.

Digitisation could rekindle the bonding policy through the National Identification System.

There should be a database of school leavers, recently employed and beneficiaries of the enhanced secondary educational system.

Depending on how much has been spent on an individual, there should be a five-10-year bonding system to ensure that the nation gets appreciable returns for its investment in human resources.

Once a beneficiary serves the bond, s/he can travel.

A database of Ghanaians with travel restrictions should be shared with all consulars to avoid a breach of diplomacy.

 Additionally, social-emotional lessons, mentorship programmes and critical thinking courses should instil in learners, a sense of responsibility towards the nation.

 There should be a concerted effort to halt the brain drain. Ghana should make strenuous efforts to maintain its human capital.

The writer is a Sr. Lecturer, Language and Communication Skills, Takoradi Technical University, Takoradi.  Email: Sad426@htmail.com