Give our children a future!
I have just read two articles by two elderly Ghanaians who are upset by the deteriorating conduct among Ghana’s leaders.
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Both articles had political undertones but different targets. Among other key points, Professor Stephen Adei’s article, which appeared on 3news.com on July 12, 2024, condemns nepotism which tends to characterise allocation of contracts in the public sector, specifically targeting the Ghana Revenue Authority.
He decries an Indian company being awarded a revenue mobilisation contract without merit, and the fact that merit no longer determines progress or position because political affiliation is becoming the determiner for securing jobs, contracts and position on the job market.
Occasional Kwatriot Kwesi Yankah made a similar political reference in the July 8 edition of the Daily Graphic, stressing that politicians infiltrate students’ elections to compromise merit.
Speaking at a primary school graduation, the columnist condemned the destruction of innocence by greedy politicians and parents. Children are no longer allowed to be children in this country.
He cited a chilling instance in which a political party made elected officers swear on their lives and on the lives of their children, should they betray the party, and that in camera.
There cannot be a more primitive behaviour than unconscionable parents willing to sacrifice self and their children for political acceptance. In Postcolonial Studies, the white coloniser is consistently castigated for referring to Africans as savages in pre-colonial times. The castigation is appropriate, because the European explorers came across different human groups and naively referred to them as savages.
The behaviour of Postcolonial Students are faced with a dilemma when they are confronted with contemporary Africans which is barbaric, wanting not to replicate the colonial mentality.
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In the olden days, our ancestors were people of dignity, socio-cultural failings notwithstanding. Besides, the barbaric behaviour regarding wars and other cultural aspects equally pertained to the European cultures, which is the reason the coloniser was myopic in disrespecting Africans.
In a period when humans have apparently progressed in all endeavours, and education opens all avenues for progress, it is barbaric indeed when selfish ones determinedly block the future for young ones. When merit is sacrificed on the altar of nepotism and sycophancy, children are led astray.
The sad situation is that the two vices are continually being interplayed before the youth in all aspects of life. They observe it in domestic spaces. They experience it full blown in school, across learning cycles. In church, they are submerged in the vices.
The result is that young ones grow up thinking that they can also have everything life can offer them for free. They play at studying to cheat in examination, because they desire good passes.
A high level of overindulgence aids the cheating. The constant instances of examination malpractices during BECE and WASSCE examinations are horrid reminders of festering cheating.
Majority of the youth who find their way to the tertiary classroom expect the same cheating to prod them on. Diligent learning is great discomfort to them. Teachers who insist on diligence become monsters. Worse, such young ones have support.
Parents and school administration tend to blame the teacher for the poor performance of learners. Currently, majority of Ghanaian parents take the prize for neglect. They overpamper children, fail to train them in any meaningful way.
Such children grow up without much sense of responsibility. They personify the mindset of entitlement. Yet, the slightest mishap, and the parent blames the teacher. In the classroom the latter gets blamed for learners’ indolence and associated poor performance.
School administration at the tertiary level might sidestep merit to admit all manner of students into tertiary programmes instead of doing diagnostic admission for the correct placement of learners.
In many cases, there are no bridging programmes to help weak students qualify for advanced courses. Consequently, learners of varied learning strengths are clumped in the same classroom.
Currently, poor literacy is a major threat to productive learning, especially, in the Technical/ Vocational classroom.
When ill-equipped students are placed in advanced programmes, learning becomes a chore. Such ones cannot enjoy learning, not because they are dumb, but because their cognitive limitations obstruct them from appreciating what is taught in the classroom.
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Such are denied the opportunity to realise their true potential, place in programmes for which they do not qualify. Yet, instead of investigating the real causes of poor performance, the teacher is arbitrarily blamed. The fact, however, is that the youthful learner is being sacrificed on the altar of greed.
Parents are willing to sacrifice their children for vanity and ostentation. A cross-section of educational stakeholders is ready to sacrifice the future of the youth for money. Higher number of students imply huge internally generated funds.
Instead of mapping a learning terrain to accommodate the diverse categories of learners who populate the tertiary classroom for industrial competence , students are simply pushed into programmes.
Technology has made learning fascinating, but somehow, in Ghana, many students are sacrificial lambs for certification which effectively renders certificate holders mere academic and professional interlopers.
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It is time we made education work for the 21st Century Ghanaian youth. Occasional Kwatriot warns greedy politicians and parents to “hands off our kids”. I caution greedy politicians, parents and school administrators to give our children a break for a good future.
The writer is a Sr. Lecturer, Language and Communication Skills,
Takoradi Technical University,
Takoradi
dinah.amankwah@ttu.edu.gh